15[16:04] The Fangs won their Commodore a new ship, and their free passage over everything the Western Sea touches. But there's one last little thing... 15[16:05] Namely, the (former?) Iselsi Shen, companion to a moody (Anathematic?) killing machine. [16:05] 14We should have a chat. 15[16:05] Feels like you gotta work something out there. And after how well she and Dryas nailed the meet, it's not hard to set up a followup with just him and Caedus. [16:06] 14We includes Iselsi Caedus, of course. Perhaps this was his idea? Or at least he'd like to think so. He does so enjoy holding the leash. 15[16:06] So, your place or theirs? [16:07] 14We'll take the party to him...but there's the question of his Solar girlfriend. [16:07] 14Piu's pretty sure she clocked that relationship right. 15[16:08] Do they want to avoid her? Do they intimate as such to Shen? [16:09] 14Not so much that they'll do more than intimate to him that this conversation is going to be about the House, and let him decide the degree he wants to keep her in the dark. One way or another, this conversation is going to have her as a significant silent player anyway. Setting up the meet should be Caedus's responsibility; Piu's presence will be something of a surprise. 15[16:14] It's only been a couple of days, but people are treating Piu basically the way they did when she first got here. The crowds ooh and ahh at the tables, servers flatter and gossip at turns, with crystal lights and gentle harp music spreading over it all... being the champion of the arena seems to have been forgotten, or at least absorbed, by the churning crowd that always feels bigger 15[16:14] than it seems like it should be, for this place's remoteness and obscurity. 15[16:16] The Red Fraction's suites are not as nice as the hearth's was. The Pneuman is not a White Mountain Matriarch Signature Rewards Member. [16:16] 14That's good. Crowds are easy to disappear into both ways. [16:16] 14She won't be wearing one of the dresses to this meeting, though. It's Silk Shadow, the Chain, and the mask. 15[16:18] Shen greets Caedus in a modest but soft-furnished sitting room across from a simple Imperial City-style tea service. Fish in many colors dance past circular portholes, beyond which glows a blue-green sea... but you're nowhere near the edge of the saucer. 15[16:24] Caedus bows. "Master Shen." 15[16:25] Shen smiles, ill-at-ease. "Oh, no, please. Just Shen. I'm no one's master." [16:27] 14From behind him: "Dh ’fhaodadh tu a bhith." [16:28] 14The black-clad killer, silks and masks and all, stalks out of the shadows to loop around and stand next to Caedus. 15[16:30] Shen's on his feet very quickly, but he doesn't do anything more rash than stand. "More killers?" 15[16:30] The tea service doesn't spill a drop. [16:31] 14She removes the mask. "Not here for you, babe." [16:31] "Not like that, anyway." [16:34] "Greetings from the Ninth House, cousin." 15[16:36] Shen looks from Piu to Caedus, gripping the table like he either intends to pick it up and swing it or like he needs it to stay standing. 15[16:36] Caedus: "We just want to talk." [16:36] 14Seeing his reaction: "Oh please tell me they didn't let you out here entirely cherry." 15[16:37] Shen: "...it's true, then." 15[16:37] "Iselsi lives." [16:37] 14Piu makes a face. "It walks. It hunts. It kills. 'Lives' might be a bit much." 15[16:38] Shen: "You told me you were V'neef." [16:40] 14Piu: "I didn't quite lie. I've been embedded within that house for almost a decade now. We have substantial investment there. The founder is a good woman, and she's not one we have bad history with." [16:40] 14Piu: "It's that or Nellens and frankly, V'neef is so much more impressive." 15[16:42] Caedus looks over at Piu. Shen doesn't notice because he already is. Shen says, "The others. The Cynis woman. The Tepets. Them too?" [16:42] 14What kind of look is it? [16:42] 14Is this a rebuke? 15[16:43] Not from him, it's not. It's just faint surprise or uncertainty. That look from To would be a rebuke. [16:45] 14If we're going to drag him back into the life, we're going to do it with something approaching fair play. [16:45] 14Unless Caedus decides otherwise, of course. [16:46] 14To Shen: "No. My hearth thinks I'm V'neef's pet assassin. They have no reason to have an opinion at all about Iselsi." 15[16:48] Shen settles into his chair, picking up his cooling tea. He gestures for the assassins to sit. 15[16:48] Caedus does, at least. [16:49] 14Piu more perches than sits. 15[16:50] Shen: "...I don't want any trouble. I'm not a threat to anybody. I just want to live my life." [16:51] 14Piu: "We don't have the authority to activate you, and if we did, we wouldn't use it." [16:51] "But we don't give the orders." 15[16:51] Shen: "But you report to the people who do." [16:51] "And you've made the...possible mistake...of not disappearing quietly into the islands." [16:52] 14Piu: "My standing orders don't oblige me to make an Imperial mountain out of a molehill. But you're entangled with a Golden Anathema." [16:52] "That means you're a player." 15[16:54] Shen: "We already agreed to work with you." [16:54] 14Piu: "Yep! And we're not changing that arrangement. Or fucking with it at all." 15[16:54] Shen: "But..." [16:55] 14Piu: "There are a lot of people I trust less to have this conversation with you than us." [16:55] "That's all this is." [16:56] "And if or when they show up...you'll have us to turn to. As resources." 15[16:58] Shen sips his tea, and looks on disapprovingly as Caedus does not. [16:58] 14Piu will give it a shot. 15[17:00] It's pretty good! It's the kind of sweet green that bureaucrats stereotypically drink on the Blessed Isle. "You're worried about someone else getting to me... but it doesn't feel like you're working against the house. Is someone else?" 15[17:01] "What's going on?" [17:03] 14Piu: "Supporting the House doesn't always mean supporting every tactic or approach that members of the House embrace. Families have disagreements all the time. If someone tries to leverage your family responsibilities into action, we wouldn't fight them -- especially not if they demanded proper filial authority -- but we could help." [17:04] 14Piu: "Plainly speaking, the civil war might be here already." 15[17:04] Shen leans forward. "Who should I be afraid of?" [17:04] "The civil war." [17:10] "Iselsi Lao out of Abalone masquerades as the merchant-prince 'Ialtagan.' He is cunning and judicious, and we are close to his network; if he asks something of you on the strength of your connection to the House, I have confidence it won't be asking for you to betray your woman, your crew, or your principles. And we can help with him. Iselsi Tephen and his daughter Iselsi Caska operate [17:10] out of Brightwork, and are concerned with their own affairs; you might call on them if you're ever there, and mention my name. It should get you some favor." [17:10] "...If you are contacted by agents serving Iselsi To, then you should immediately get in touch with us." [17:11] "Unless you are sworn to secrecy, of course." 15[17:18] Shen: "...okay. I'll keep that in mind. But why? If it's all already falling apart, why do you need me? Why do they need you?" 15[17:19] "Why not just get out?" [17:19] 14Iselsi Piu: "I don't understand the question." 15[17:21] Shen: "It's over. You won. The Realm's falling apart. Everyone knows it. You killed the Empress and the Realm with her. So now what? Is the plan to rise again? To rule again? What are you doing out here?" [17:22] 14Piu: "Well, the Empress might still be alive." 15[17:22] Caedus is leaving this to Piu, because this is around the time where he starts getting counterproductively aggressive with this kind of questioning. He's only a *little* mad, right now, at least. 15[17:23] Shen: "You're out here to kill her, then?" [17:23] "But that's all sort of beside the point. The Realm isn't dead, and House Iselsi does intend to put a thumb on the scales of justice for its punishment." [17:24] 14Piu shakes her head. "I don't have the authority to make that decision." [17:24] 14Piu: "What I'm -- what we're, Caedus and I, doing out here, in brief, is building power." [17:25] "Power that isn't connected to the Realm." [17:25] "Power that isn't connected to the House, which makes its use deniable." [17:25] "Everything Dryas and I sold you on at that card table? We were telling the truth." [17:25] "This is just...added context." 15[17:26] "Secret added context." [17:26] 14Piu: "It seemed fairer that you know it than not. You are family, after all." 15[17:26] "Aren't they?" 15[17:26] Caedus: "Easy." 15[17:27] *That* is a rebuke. [17:27] 14Piu: "...I can understand why you'd resent being reminded of all this. But not thinking about it won't make it go away." 15[17:29] Shen: "I have to tell my people about this. They're going to need to know." [17:31] 14Piu: "We knew that was a possibility coming in here. We'd implore discretion, or at least imparting the importance of discretion on them." [17:31] 14The Solar was going to get this out of him one way or another. That's the chance you take with Solars. 15[17:32] Caedus: "No you don't. You don't have to tell them anything. In fact, if you really care about them, you won't." [17:32] 14Been awhile since they've had to go two-pronged on someone. [17:32] 14Been even longer since Piu was the nice one. 15[17:33] There was Garnet, but the circumstances were pretty different. 15[17:33] Shen: "You don't get it. I don't know what it's like for you, but--" 15[17:33] Caedus: "Yeah you do." 15[17:33] "That's why you're out here." 15[17:35] The candles flicker. The room gets warm. Shen says, "You don't know me." 15[17:35] Caedus: "We don't have to." [17:39] 14Piu, slightly upset: "Boys. We're House Iselsi. We're not getting into a fistfight over our family duties, or lack thereof, no matter how much we disagree." [17:42] "Shen, you know you can't just talk freely about the House. I know you know that, because you can at least understand the Cant. Caedus, with respect, I think a gentler touch is warranted here." 15[17:43] Caedus tenses before he relaxes. But he does relax. 15[17:45] Shen looks from Caedus to Piu and back as the tenor of the room shifts. It's even warmer now, but in a softer way. There's the sense of being gathered around a fire and not trapped in a cooking pot. 15[17:46] Shen meets Caedus's eyes and smiles. "Right. I get it." 15[17:46] He pushes his teacup away. "It doesn't sound like you want me to do anything but keep my eyes open." 15[17:46] "Yet, at least." 15[17:46] "I can do that. We're already working together." [17:46] 14Piu: "Like I said, we didn't come here with an ask, or trying to give orders." 15[17:47] "The second that changes, people are gonna know." 15[17:47] "That's as far as I'll go against my own people." 15[17:47] Caedus looks to Piu. [17:47] 14Piu: "Works for me." [17:54] 14Piu: "V'neef Piu will be in touch from now on, like this conversation never happened. But you've got me and mine at your back on a different axis now, too. Even if that's a complicated and fraught one." 15[17:54] Shen: "Good. Okay. Um... you guys should probably go soon. I don't know how long till Eska's back." [17:54] 14Piu grins. "We're good at disappearing." 15[17:56] Shen looks down at his teacup. "No hard feelings, yeah? This is a weird time for everybody." He looks up to Caedus, offering his hand. [17:57] 14... 15[17:57] Shen: "Hheh." 15[17:58] Caedus: "...she does that. Be seeing you, Shen." 15[17:58] Shen: "Mar sin leat." 15[17:59] Caedus heads back to their suite, which was the agreed-upon rendezvous. [18:00] 14Piu will be mostly naked and hanging up Silk Shadow when he returns. [18:00] "I hope I wasn't out of line." [18:00] 14The mask goes with it. 15[18:00] Caedus: "You weren't. He was. Smarmy little shit was basically holding the Anathema's gun to our heads." [18:02] 14Piu: "It's his top card and he knows it. I would have appreciated a little less suspicion and a little more understanding...but I get the basic contours of why he said what he said." [18:03] "If To has other people out here we don't know about, it's better if we get to him before they do." [18:03] "I don't think they'd be as understanding." 15[18:04] Caedus undresses more quickly than Piu did; his outfit was less elaborate. "You think it's likely? That she's got other agents out here we'll cross paths with?" [18:07] 14Piu: "I know my graduating class. And I know how she taught us. Filial competition." [18:08] "I would very much like a way to check in with her, but a tool for that wasn't in the mission spec." [18:08] "Whenever she leaves me to my own devices for this long it's just so she can build a case against me when I return." 15[18:21] Caedus: "Yeah, well, if Shen tries to steamroll Tailo or Lukan like that, he's gonna wish he was nicer to us." 15[18:21] "Hopefully To has her hands full with whatever bullshit Cynis is raining down on V'neef right now." [18:22] 14Does Piu know those names? 15[18:25] They were in her graduating class. Generally considered better prospects than Piu, being men, and easier to burrow into the power structure. Her recollection is that Tailo a bloodthirsty brute with a very thin veneer of self-possession, while Lukan is a diamond-hard psychopath who treats every facet of his work with oppressive seriousness. [18:26] 14Ah. Well then yes, it would be precisely To's style to have one of them operating out here. Though Tailo would be a bit obvious. [18:27] 14Still, it's not like she's vetted the backstory of every murderous corsair to pop up out here in the last few months. 15[18:28] That'd take a lot of work. But still, if you're ever in the mood, Danguro's right there! [18:30] 14Piu: "Hopefully so. Obviously, her orders would stand. But she hasn't seen the need to give them in some time." [18:30] "And I'm comfortable with that, even if I'll regret it later." 15[18:32] Caedus stretches onto the bed. "With the ship you won, we can just outrace the war when it comes. Outrace To. Not that we should, or that we'll have to, but... we have built power out here. I think even if the worst happens, we'll get through it." [18:33] 14She'll climb in with him. "I hope so." [18:33] 14It's a good fantasy. Even if it is just a fantasy.