15[23:15] It's not long after midday the following day when Sadako goes looking for Piu. Can she be found? If so, where? [23:15] 4How's the weather? 15[23:17] This is winter weather by Piu's reckoning, at least from the perspective of Eagle's Launch. That's the only time of year it got this gray and breezy and cold. Though, mercifully, there's no sense of coming rain. 15[23:18] It was, of course, never remotely like this at Baalshamos. [23:20] 4Ugh. Well she won't be hanging out on deck! Getting her exercises in down in the hold seems like how it has to be. 15[23:23] Then Sadako's both grumpy and relieved to have finally found her. "Oh hey." [23:23] "Yo!" 4Piu is currently doing a handstand. Don't worry, she's in tight-fitting workout clothes, so her smock hanging down is perfectly modest. 15[23:27] Sadako: "I didn't know you were busy, sorry. I wanted to get some more reps in with Seiri but now Zhangyu's shut himself up like Daizo did. Locked in their cabins. Bending metal bars and frowning probably. But you know all this stuff too right?" [23:27] 4Piu: "I do! Not as well as Zhangyu and, frankly, don't have the body for it like he does. But I can teach!" [23:27] 4She does a handspring out of the handstand and lands bouncily. 15[23:31] "Thank you." Sadako stands there silently a moment before she works up the nerve to say, "Can you come with me to get her? I'm bad at interrupting people." [23:33] 4Piu, finishing toweling off after a splash of wash-water: "...Sure!" [23:33] 4Afraid to talk to her girlfriend, huh. Well so it goes! 15[23:36] It's maybe clearer why when Sadako takes Piu up to the officers' cabins, but not into the one she shares with Seiri, but the one occupied by Lady Garnet. Seiri didn't bring the tea service, and the two of them are instead talking over a short stack of fat books. The new sailors - Lao's people - acknowledge Piu with a soldierly nod. [23:39] 14Aha. [23:40] 4She pleasantly waves her way through them, but will do the courtesy of a knock. 15[23:42] Garnet lets them in herself, her red irises meeting Piu's and Sadako's in turn before stepping back. It's only then that Seiri looks up. "Hey!" says the latter. "I missed you at lunch." 15[23:43] "Caxi needed help," says Sadako. 15[23:43] "Lady Piu. Lady Sadako," comes the greeting from Garnet. [23:43] 4Given that she's just here to make Sadako less awkward, she'll step aside from the two lovers. [23:46] 4How's the Empress holding up? 15[23:48] She seems in higher spirits than she did the last time Piu saw her. One of the books is already open at the corner of the desk adjacent to her cot. She sits and invites the others to do the same, though Sadako doesn't oblige. 15[23:49] Seiri: "I was just talking about the books I'm loaning Lady Garnet. Across the Eight and the first two volumes of the Tales, and a couple of lighter things if she gets bored." [23:50] 4Piu will sit. 15[23:52] Garnet lifts the open book and sets it back down, mainly to demonstrate its heft. "I'm told these are the first two of six such volumes." 15[23:52] Seiri: "Mmhmm!" [23:53] 4Piu's face remains in a pleasant, indulgent smile, 14while her eyes gauge the Empress. 15[23:53] Garnet: "Did you care for history as a subject in your schooling, Lady Piu?" [23:54] 4She laughs lightly. "Wasn't my worst class! That was literature." [23:54] "I preferred working with subjects I could touch." 15[23:55] Seiri: "When it's all in books you don't think of history that way, but coming out here, seeing these old ruins... you really can touch it." [23:57] "Yeah...not at the Stair, though! All just tests and really dusty rooms." 15[23:57] Garnet: "The Stair?" 15[23:58] Sadako's already shrinking into the background again. Her face is almost entirely obscured by her long black hair. [23:59] 4Piu gives her...not a sharp look, not a disapproving look, but like, c'mon!!! You can't keep doing this forever, Sadako. You clearly want to be here. [00:01] 4To Garnet: "Pasiap's Stair! The school of hard knocks and shitty clocks. Academy for the outcastes brought into the Great Houses of the Realm. On a mountain overlooking a desert." 15[00:02] Seiri: "Piu's like you, Lady Garnet. She wasn't born in the Realm at all!" 15[00:02] The resulting silence is just long enough that Sadako's able to punch through. "Hey, Piu said she'd help us keep up our workouts even though Zhangyu's busy." [00:03] 4Piu, smoothly: "Yep!" 15[00:08] Seiri looks a bit blindsided, and now it's Garnet's turn to lean into the silence. "Well timed, Lady Sadako. I was just about to ask for some time to myself to study. Thank you so much. I look forward to discussing this with you later." 15[00:08] Sadako blinks. "Oh. Uh. Thank you, Lady Garnet." 15[00:09] Seiri looks from Sadako to Piu to Garnet before saying. "I'll meet you down in the hold. Give me a minute to change." [00:09] 4Piu grins. "Excellent!" 4She somehow kips up to her feet from the lotus position. 15[00:10] Lady Garnet: "Lady Piu, could I trouble you to ask Chief..." she looks down at a scrap of paper under the book with an odd shorthand scribbled onto it. "Samperson to see me at his earliest convenience?" [00:10] 4Her smile doesn't change. "Absolutely! Next I see him." 15[00:10] Lady Garnet: "Thank you very much. Now if you'd kindly excuse me." [00:12] 4A bow and she'll lead them out. 15[00:13] Seiri and Sadako go to change, leaving Piu to meet them down in the hold. Caedus is almost certainly up on deck right now, if she's of a mind. Otherwise, Seiri and Sadako join her down in the hold a few minutes later. [00:13] 4She has to come up with a way to get Seiri to tamp down her 'nerding' out around the Empress. The history's going to be a lot to take in, and substantially more personal to Garnet than to Seiri. [00:13] 4She'll drop by Caedus. 15[00:14] He's working the ropes alongside the crew, arms bare despite the wind, though he does have a dark kerchief wrapped around his ears against the wind. [00:14] 4Mmmm. Above the wind: "Chief Petty Officer! A word. Won't be a sec." 15[00:15] Caedus calls another sailor over to re-tie this lanyard and then follows Piu somewhere private. [00:16] 14In private: "Garnet wishes to see you at your first convenience." 15[00:16] Caedus takes this in for a beat before asking, "Any idea why?" [00:17] 14Face neutral: "Didn't ask." 15[00:17] "Any tripwires you can warn me about?" [00:18] 14Piu: "She's touchy about the Cant. She speaks fluently, you see. You might be able to bond over loathing slavery." [00:21] "She's been reading history." [00:21] "First two volumes of the Tales; Across the Eight." [00:21] "Could be in a mood." [00:22] 4Shrugs. "Could just want a fuck." 15[00:25] Caedus: "...got it. Thanks for the heads up. You're working way beyond our brief here and you haven't missed a beat." [00:29] 14Piu: "It's the job. Gotta babysit the girls in the hold. I'll let you get back to it." 14He'll get a quick kiss, if he's into it. 15[00:30] He holds the kiss just past the point you could consider it quick. "Play nice." [00:31] 4Zhangyu-voce: "Such is not the Way of the Mantis!" 15[00:32] Caedus is laughing as he walks away. [00:34] 4She'll head down to the hold with a spring in her step. 15[00:35] Piu arrives to see the leannanan in clothes not unlike Piu's, though Seiri's look roughspun and Sadako's are the finest of the trio. Sadako, immediately: "I'll ask Piu then." Seiri's eyes widen. [00:36] 4Piu: "Ask away!" 15[00:36] Sadako: "Don't you think Seiri'd look good with short hair? Look!" Seiri's medium-length curly hair is all bound up and hidden in her headband/scarf, which reveals her neck and jawline and furious blush. [00:36] 4Would she? Specifically, would she need a stylist to keep close watch on such a cut to make it work with her neck and jawline? 15[00:37] Depends on the style. Some cuts, particularly those favored by women in combat service, you can keep neat with a mirror and a razor. Something similarly short but a bit more intricate like Caxi's delicate feathering, you'd need professional help, a lot of practice, or magic to maintain. 15[00:39] Piu can definitely see why Sadako'd say that. Seiri's got a graceful sort of neck, and it's quickly apparent how much more emotive she is with her hair up like that, as she's constantly making tiny motions with the angle of her head and chin that get buried by the curls. [00:40] 4Piu puts a finger to her chin. "I think she would look good with short hair...IF she had someone dedicated to helping her maintain the cut. Outside of clean-shorn cuts where you just fffffvk! cut it all off, you generally need a stylist to trim it and keep it looking good." 4Very pointedly looking at Sadako: "SOMEone would have to take that responsibility, as it's just about [00:40] impossible to do oneself." 15[00:40] Sadako: "I'll do it. C'monn. You're always brushing my hair!" 15[00:42] Seiri, hastily: "Let's talk about it later. Where were we in the forms...?" 15[00:42] How does Piu conduct the lesson? [00:42] 4First: stretching! [00:43] 4Next: Form practice! This starts with strikes and thrust repetitions, but those are light in Mantis. Grips and locks are more important. Piu has them demonstrate on the air, then her to verify, then each other so they can feel what it's like to both correctly apply a lock and have it correctly applied to them. [00:44] 4Piu's definitely more their size than their other teachers in the dojo will be, which is better for teaching in and of itself, but maybe worse for real-world expectations. 15[00:44] Seiri works gamely - whatever her appetite for it, the regimen is already paying dividends in both developed skills and general athleticism. Sadako, with her preternatural flexibility, and clear edge in strength and speed, makes it all look so much easier. [00:46] 4Piu is going to keep close eye on Sadako specifically. With Seiri it's mostly making sure she doesn't hurt herself or doesn't get hurt -- her forms are diligent if not virtuosic, and yes, this is as much a social and general fitness practice for her than true initiation into the style. Sadako is the one who can make this an art. [00:50] 4So Piu spends much of her time looking for moments in the forms and locks where Sadako's flexibility can manifest. 15[00:55] The sparring progresses, first through simple wrist and arm locks and then into fuller grips and holds until they start hitting the ground together, where Mantis really shines. Despite the flaws in their forms, the exchange is remarkably even and technical, with Seiri matching Sadako move for move even as Seiri positively vibrates with exertion against Sadako's cold, still focus. 15[00:56] Gradually it becomes apparent that this is by design. Sadako is holding back. In fact, she's so far ahead of Seiri now that she has the control to hold back exactly enough to keep even with her partner even as her partner's stamina wanes. [00:57] 4Mmmm. Interesting. [00:58] 4This is delicate to handle. It might be best not to point it out at all; that said, Sadako isn't going to learn anymore doing forms or even sparring with her girlfriend. The question is, when Piu and Sadako spar, will Seiri be insulted and hurt by the clear difference in skill on display? 15[00:59] Hard to say. That's not precisely a situation Piu's ever seen Seiri in before. She's modest to a fault, and she works hard... but she's never been visibly, dramatically outclassed before. [01:01] 4Hmm. [01:02] 4Has Piu had time to speak to the stakeholders -- meaning Caxi and Ratel -- about Sadako being on Piu's landing party team when they make it to Old Mionzi? Does she have the authority to actually grant Sadako a place on that team by her word alone? 15[01:04] As far as Caxi's concerned, as long as Sadako's told up front about the danger, it's fine. Ratel, as she so often does, delegates the decision to Zhangyu, upon whom the nominal ranking position for away teams has been conferred. [01:06] 4Oh, that's fine then, she can handle Zhangyu. When practice is complete, but before they've had chance to tire each other out (slim chance for Sadako): "Nice! That'll be enough for today." [01:06] "...But sayyy. Sadako." 15[01:06] Seiri almost collapses in relief and exhaustion. But she manages to play it into an almost-cool lean against an inner wall of the hold. 15[01:07] Sadako's kipped up to her feet in an instant, cracking her neck and shoulders every which way. "Yeah?" [01:07] "Spoke to the Commodore, and Caxi." [01:07] "You want onto that away team at Old Mionzi?" 15[01:07] Immediately: "Fuck yes." [01:08] 4Piu assumes Mantis form. "Then pin me." 15[01:22] Sadako makes a direct, but not wild attack. Piu judged her skill correctly, though Piu is still the far more seasoned fighter, and is able to guide her own fall when she lets Sadako take her down. There's a surge of triumph Piu can feel through the quickening of Sadako's pulse as she settles flawlessly into one of the foundational takedown holds. [01:23] 4Soon as her shoulders hit, Piu goes "woof!" 4waits a couple seconds, then calls out, "Break!" 15[01:24] But on the floor of the hold that she's held in Piu is awash in noisy white-gray light, and Sadako's grip is clammy and cold. A tarry dread pulls the pit of Piu's stomach straight down, and the breath catches in her throat, coming out as green-white vapor that gets sucked into the flaring nostrils of the dead, cataracted patchwork face looming over her. 15[01:24] Then she says break, and the spell does too. [01:24] 14So that's what that feels like. [01:25] 14Good. Learn how to operate in it. 15[01:26] Sadako's up on her feet again. She finally broke a sweat and it clings to her skin like condensation on a glass. "That was a setup!" 15[01:26] When she brushes her hair back out of her face it's its normal plain and flinty self. [01:26] 4Piu: "Well, I wasn't going down to just ANY move! Form was perfect!" 15[01:27] Seiri: "How can you tell it was a setup?" [01:27] 14When she's back on her feet, her face is serious. "But it finally got you using the fullness of your power, and that's what's most important." 15[01:28] Sadako: "She held her weight wrong! The stance looked solid but it was set up to buckle off the back leg." 15[01:28] Seiri: "Oh! That looked normal to me. That's what happened every time I took you down." [01:29] 14That finally gets a smile from Piu when she doesn't necessarily mean for it. [01:29] "Funny, that." 15[01:31] Seiri: "I understand why Lady Piu did it. She said so. She knew you were holding back, and she wanted to push you." 15[01:31] Sadako is silent. 15[01:31] Seiri: "So what were you doing?" 15[01:31] "You know I'm not holding back." [01:32] 14And to think she was worried about Seiri's feelings. 15[01:33] Sadako: "Well... you know... sticking exactly to form is hard even if it doesn't test your full strength..." 15[01:36] Seiri shakes her head, looking away. "You really think I don't know how strong you are? How much stronger you are?" 15[01:37] "Look what you can do! You wasted your whole afternoon on me." [01:38] 14Piu: "It was not a waste." [01:39] "Discipline exists as a virtue regardless of virtuosity. The formal martial arts are a discipline, before they are a tool for greatness. Discipline is not learned by smashing your training partner into the floor again and again." 15[01:39] Sadako: "I didn't want you to give up! I didn't want you to get sick of it! Every time now it's like pulling teeth to get you to work out. Every time you're running for the exits as fast as you can. To play tutor or teatime--" [01:40] 14Ah. it's this sort of fight. Well she'll not poke her nose into it any farther, then. [01:40] 14Growing pains. [01:40] 14This is why she has transactions, not relationships. No, she's not going to examine the Caedus thing right now. 15[01:42] Seiri: "If you want to spend time with me, all you have to do is say so. Lady Garnet needs help, and she's terribly lonely--" 15[01:42] Sadako: "I know the feeling." 15[01:43] Seiri: "--but you don't need to compete for my attention. And you never need to buy it off with pity." 15[01:45] Seiri allows herself a steadying sigh. "I'm going to go get cleaned up. When you're finished, Sadako, I'd very much like to spend some time with you. I'll be in the cabin. I'm sorry for losing my temper." 15[01:45] "Lady Piu." She beelines out. [01:46] 14Piu sighs with crossed arms. "Well, I guess we both could have played that one better." [01:46] "You were already cleared for the beach." 15[01:46] "I'm such a fuckup," groans Sadako. [01:46] "Eh. You already got through the hard part." [01:46] "Of this fuckup, that is." [01:47] "Now you get the fun part." 15[01:49] It takes a second for that to click for Sadako. "Uhh... I'm gonna go clean up too. Listen - thank you so much for giving me a chance. And for being around." [01:50] 14Piu nods. "You're welcome. It's been a pleasure having you both about." 15[01:50] Sadako leaves Piu alone. 15[02:06] Piu returns to Garnet's cabin, admitted by Caedus, who is ever-so-slightly dressed up in one of his open gray silk things that somehow looks both like workout and clubbing clothes, smelling subtly of cologne. Once the guards' backs are fully turned, he looks grateful to see her. [02:06] 14He gets a similarly-sly wink. 15[02:08] As Piu steps into the room she sees that Garnet has a bottle of wine in her hand. She holds it in Piu's direction, offering to pour her a glass. 15[02:08] It's not quite evening yet, if that's a factor for her. [02:08] 14Piu: "Yes, please." [02:08] 14Haha, you're funny. 15[02:08] They pay me to ask. 15[02:08] Garnet pours without another word. 15[02:09] She says, "I'm curious - what are you training them in?" [02:09] 14She didn't ask which language Garnet prefers; from previous, it's her intention to only speak the Cant around her when she leads. Though learning the full language instead of the rudimentary forms they have would be nice. [02:10] "The form of the Mantis school. Joint-locks, takedowns, broken bones, done quickly and with maximum brutality." [02:11] "Obviously, not for everyone. Sometimes difficult to get students to come back." 15[02:11] "And these students?" [02:12] "One has the discipline, the desire, and the drive. The other is an excellent and loving partner who does her absolutely scrupulous best." 15[02:13] "Both admirable in their own right." [02:14] 14She sips the wine. "Indeed. But I suspect Seiri will be more comfortable, and useful to herself and others, as a staff-fighter of some sort." 15[02:15] Garnet: "Perhaps I could teach her the blade. As payment for her own tutelage." She waves her hand. "Chief Samperson has been very indulgent of me." [02:16] 14Piu: "The blade...that might fit her better. She's certainly more suited for it, both temperamentally and physically." [02:16] 14She glances over at him. "Has he?" 15[02:17] Caedus: "As an interviewee, that is. The Lady Garnet has a very broad curiosity." [02:19] 14He's a big boy and, technically, mission lead. Hopefully he was able to take care of himself. 15[02:19] Garnet: "And I owe you an apology, Piu. I owed you one yesterday. Please accept it now. Whatever my feelings about... this circumstance, you are not their author. It's unjust to treat you otherwise." [02:20] 14Piu: "It's not necessary, but thank you for it." [02:24] 14She's still not entirely clear on what Garnet's feelings about the circumstance are, but then, it's not entirely clear what Garnet even actually is, so. 15[02:27] Garnet: "And he has the cànan tràillean as well. Speaks very highly of the crew. He told me he served a term as a galley slave before the dragon kissed him." [02:27] 14Another sip of wine: "They're an excellent crew." 15[02:29] Garnet: "But he won't tell me what they're doing. Or what you're doing. The two of you. Clearly quite apart from the rest of them in some way." 15[02:29] "Even cooped up here I can see that." 15[02:30] "Dè a tha gad cheangal?" [02:32] 14Bigger sip of wine. "Gu gnìomhachas an uairsin." [02:33] 14She looks to Caedus expectantly. She shouldn't have to say out loud this isn't her call to make, even if she has to do the talking. 15[02:36] Caedus has a slightly rueful expression on his face. "As I said when we were alone, ma'am, I came to know Lady Piu after being offered a post in the Merchant Fleet. She looked out for me in a situation where I had no bearings or context. I've valued her friendship highly ever since." [02:37] 14Piu: "And I am House V'Neef's royal assassin." 15[02:40] Garnet: "And it is House V'Neef that ordered the desk of the slaver woman? M- the Empress's granddaughter?" 15[02:40] *the death of [02:41] 14Piu nods, but what she says is, "I am a woman who follows my House's orders religiously." 15[02:42] Garnet: "Who rules House V'Neef?" [02:43] 14With unfaked pride: "The founder herself still leaves. V'Neef herself chose me for adoption." [02:43] *lives 15[02:48] Caedus: "Lady Piu has pride of place among V'Neef's children. She loves her as her own." 15[02:48] Garnet: "Even over her natural-born?" 15[02:48] Here Caedus looks at Piu. This is not a topic it's socially acceptable for him to broach. [02:56] 14Piu: "V'Neef is young. Her eldest, S'Thera, is about my age, but has lived a much...harder life. She loves her daughters and sons equally, but being natural-born brings with it political considerations. S'Thera, who yearns for nothing more than to die in battle to avenge her fallen lover and would-be husband, instead must provide children." [02:57] "I am in a situation where no husband or child is expected of me. Not yet, at least. It is freeing." 15[03:00] Garnet: "And how did V'Neef come into her own House? I have been reading of the founding of the Houses - those founded to her eldest children, Ragara and Mnemon. Some handed to adoptees, some to foreign consorts. But V'Neef, being young, does not appear." [03:04] 14Piu: "V'Neef is the Empress's youngest." [03:04] 14The hitch where she decided not to go with 'last' is almost imperceptible. [03:07] "As such she has...certain views." [03:08] "House V'Neef's daughters are still mainly raised by nannies instead of their mothers -- this is the reality of political life -- but they are among the few in the Realm whose nannies aren't slaves." [03:09] 4She sips her wine. "The horror stories of coming home from school to find the woman or man who raised you from birth and was, in many ways, your parent -- as opposed to merely your mother -- had been sold or simply executed...they don't happen in House V'Neef." [03:10] 14She sips her wine. "The horror stories of coming home from school to find the woman or man who raised you from birth and was, in many ways, your parent -- as opposed to merely your mother -- had been sold or simply executed...they don't happen in House V'Neef." 15[03:10] At this, Garnet barks a harsh laugh. 15[03:10] And she pours herself another glass of wine. [03:11] 14Piu: "This has earned the house a reputation for being coddled father's girls. Obviously, as an outcase adoptee I wouldn't know myself, but seems false to me." 15[03:11] "You hold the Cant, and one another, and though you are in this Realm you seem... less of it." 15[03:12] "And I have to confide." 15[03:13] "Children separated from their parents, raised by strangers, knowing no greater loyalty than to the whole... what you describe is how I was raised. All the slaves were." 15[03:14] "The true-born gentes were inextricably loyal to their parents." [03:15] 14Piu nods. "I do not know the degree to which you are truly our Empress...but I feel confident saying that you would not enjoy the grand 'reward' such a position is these days. And that's one of the theories, you know." [03:16] "There's the theory that she was killed, that she was stolen away, that she was needed elsewhere on some secret quest...and the most persuasive, to me: she woke up one day, look around the Realm...and was disgusted by what she saw." [03:17] *looked around 15[03:17] Garnet: "Perhaps she should have taken the opportunity to reflect on any of the preceding eight centuries in which she painstakingly arranged what she saw around her." [03:18] 14Piu smiles wanly. "Talk like that enough around the Blessed Isle, and they start sending royal assassins after you." 15[03:21] Garnet: "I don't understand why. Or how. I see the world you live in - the world she shaped, the world where she ruled, as Lady Dryas said, the most and the best of it." 15[03:22] "It doesn't make sense. Cò an gàirnealair a bhios a ’fàs a leithid de droigheann agus puinnseanan?" 15[03:23] "How much separates she from I? How little?" [03:24] 14Piu, more moodily than the sentiment perhaps deserves in light of her recent run-ins with them: "Chan eil ach nèamh eòlach." 15[03:25] "Bah! An uairsin leig leis na speuran tuiteam." 15[03:25] Caedus, quietly: "Lady Garnet. Your Imperial Majesty." 15[03:27] "It's important for you to understand something, and I'm not sure you fully do. We don't know what happened, or how you came to be here as you are now. We don't know what you represent, what you're evidence of, or even what you are. We may never understand why you're here." [03:27] 14Piu pours herself some more wine as Caedus talks. 15[03:29] "But you are here now. This is not a dream. This is not a test. However you came to be here - and however the world came to be so - the fact remains you are, and it is. It is what it is. It isn't what it isn't." 15[03:29] "It would be best for all of us - yourself, this crew, the world - if you could come to terms with that as fast as you possibly can." [03:30] 14Ooh. That sounded uncommonly authoritative from the 'chief petty officer.' [03:31] 14How poorly does the Empress take even so mild a rebuke? 15[03:33] Garnet stews silently for a moment before she says, "I am learning as fast as I can. But when every new truth I learn carries with it the realization of a new loss, the loss of something I never got to know I had, it--" 15[03:33] Caedus: "Ma'am, please. I am very sympathetic. I am. But we have all lost things. Things we can't count. Things we can't even name." 15[03:34] "There are no winners in this. There are losers, and there are sore losers." 15[03:34] Caedus stands. "I invite you to join the ranks of the former." [03:34] 14Piu: "How's it go?" [03:35] "'Fàs trang a ’fuireach no fàs trang a’ bàsachadh'?" 15[03:36] Garnet leans back in her seat and closes her eyes. Caedus, still standing, doesn't speak or move to leave. "Which is it to be?" 15[03:37] , asks Garnet. [03:37] "Time enough for the second after you've done the first." 15[03:38] Caedus: "In the meantime, the Commodore sets our heading and we are bound for Old Mionzi. You will be needed for the landing. I would not expect you to be pleased by what we find." [03:38] 14To Caedus: "That said, can't really fault her for sticking around the cabin with that jar leashing her. Daizo's looking into it." 15[03:38] Caedus: "As I said. I am sympathetic. Insofar as we can make this easier for you, we will. You have my word." 15[03:38] "But it will always be hard." 15[03:39] Garnet: "...I understand. Thank you. I need to... I need to rest. And study." [03:40] 14She finishes her glass of wine. "Then we'll leave you to it. Good evening." 15[03:41] "Ur Mòrachd." Caedus steps out. He doesn't hold the door open for Piu, so she can have a parting word, but he is just outside. [03:42] 14Something's kind of been bothering Piu since around the middle of the conversation -- specifically about history, Garnet, the (previous? actual?) Empress, and context that might have been lost. She pauses and lets the door close for privacy. 15[03:43] "I see why you like him," says Garnet. [03:45] "We've...known each other quite awhile. He has his many charms, among them that he's learned how to navigate talking to powerful women. A lot of men otherwise as talented as him didn't, and they're dead." 14She pauses. "You know that thing I said. About Heaven knowing. I was being literal. And Heaven's got killers." [03:45] "I've met them. They're scarier than me." 15[03:46] Garnet: "Gods of death?" [03:48] "Worse. Certified professionals. With gifts like or surpassing ours...and licensure." 14She shakes her head. "Just occured that that might be something to keep in mind...when thinking why the Empress did or didn't do the things in those books." 15[03:49] Garnet: "Perhaps someday we can ask." 15[03:49] "Herself or Heaven." [03:49] 14Piu nods, then withdraws. 15[03:50] She almost runs right into Caedus. [03:50] 14When she and Caedus are far enough from the guards for privacy: "By now I should know precisely how big your balls are, but you constantly surprise me." 14This is said with various degrees of approval and flirtation. 15[03:54] Caedus: "I wasn't lying, I am sympathetic. But I'd be more sympathetic if she didn't act like she's the only one who notices the state of things. Sometimes people just need to be spoken to in a manner they're unaccustomed to. Even if it's uncomfortable. Especially then, even." 15[03:54] "Though I'd always rather they just ask me to pull their hair." 15[03:54] "You were right, by the way. She was on the pull, at least partly. But then she went cold all of a sudden. I failed some secret shit test." 15[03:55] "Every man in Creation has wondered what it'd be like to make a pass at the Empress. No one imagines it going like that." [03:56] 14She shakes her head. 15[03:57] Caedus: "Which means she's going to be crawling up the walls after not too much longer if we can't get her out of lockdown." [03:57] "Well, I'm sure you'll get another shot at it. I get the feeling this one's going to be around for quite some time. Now, if you want to pull some hair..." 14The bunk should be just down this way,