Waterstrider

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fifthmonth, 1634 PTS

“Karie Hadal, daughter of the famous martial artist Sirena Hadal, has officially been condemned as an outlaw by the Justice Office. Earlier today she used heavy explosives on a residential stack in the third district. New findings have shown she may be responsible for a similar event in the eighth district last month. This terrorist is currently on the run from authorities. Her whereabouts are unknown, but the Hadal Clan has yet to give any statements on the matter.”

Sirena smiled, amused by the news.

“I was wondering whether she would do this. She really is my daughter.”

“Are you sure this is okay?” asked Wei. “She’s your own daughter, Sisi, and you’ve let her alienate most of the entire clan.”

The Hadal Clan’s matriarch gave him a dark look.

“Of all my children, Karie is the most similar to me. This was her decision, and whether she thought it through or was simply shortsighted makes no difference at this point. I wouldn’t be a good mother if I simply protected her from all the consequences of her actions. I don’t want her acting like Sulno’s son,” she said, her expression shifting into a short chuckle.

Wei frowned. The comment about Yulio Hadal was warranted, but he still felt that Sirena was far from as concerned as she should be.

“But what about the plans you had for-” he asked, pausing as he saw the expression on Sirena’s face.

She smiled, her golden eyes seeming to house infinitely profound depths within.

“What makes you think those are on hold?”

Wei let out a breath, chuckling hoarsely. His oldest friend’s plans were complex, but he had known her for a very long time. He stroked his beard as he followed her train of thought.

“What a… convoluted solution,” he finally said.

Sirena laughed at his expression.

“The other Elders would see through anything simpler, even more so the Supreme Elder. I think the odds are reasonable.”

Wei shook his head.

“It’s quite a risk, though. It will depend on whether you judged his nature correctly or not. Even then, poor luck could ruin it.”

She shrugged in response.

“It’s still a matter for the long term, anyway. The war and the selection are still more important. I’m curious to see what will happen while Juen is recovering.”

“An opportunity for Lorelei, you mean,” said Wei.

“Karie, too, if she makes the right choices. This can be considered a trial and an opportunity for her.”

Wei’s aged brow wrinkled even further.

“With just a word of advice, you could lead her towards the right path,” he argued.

Sirena’s expression became hard, her eyes looking out into the cityscape through the wide windows of the office.

“If she can’t find that path herself, she wouldn’t make a good matriarch anyway,” she said.

Wei simply sighed. Unlike his oldest living friend, his gaze had never glanced away from the Matriarch’s face. She had always been the type to be engrossed by the world, while he could only hyperfocus on the people around him. For the both of them, he thought, it was simultaneously a strength and a weakness.

“I’m not so sure your daughter would see this as grace, Sirena. She already feels she can’t trust you to assist in any way. You don’t have to model your parenting style on your own mo-”

“Good,” replied Sirena. “That’s how it should be.”

Wei sighed again, taking a short step backwards and finally dropping the subject.

“Fine, then,” he said. “We’ll do it as you say. There’s a larger matter at hand, anyway.”

Sirena nodded, still glancing towards the foot traffic on the stack opposite.

“I’m curious what their intentions are. I would have expected the Celans to make another attack by now, but it’s been mostly quiet.”

“We’ve been looking into their movements in Otan and the fifth district, but haven’t seen anything notable.”

“Just like how we didn’t know they hid all those enforcers at the border,” snarled Sirena. “They’ve been leading us around wherever they want.” She sighed, glancing back towards Wei. “Talk with the Riverfiend, and work with him to do an attack on their headquarters.”

Wei’s expression wavered, feeling a certain amount of anxiety well up inside of him.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

Sirena leaned back in her seat, rubbing her cerebral dantian with a sigh.

“Our spies have clearly been giving us misinformation for years at least. Their headquarters at least, we can determine is important. It’s certainly well-guarded, but they won’t be expecting an attack. If nothing else, we’ll be able to force them to move their defenses further inwards. While we do that, we’ll have a second force move around to other locations we know about, to verify our intelligence.”

Wei was conflicted, and the great risks were right before him. Still, he knew that their chances for victory would lessen the more the war dragged on. The industrial capacity of the Celans was simply too great of an advantage. There was only one thing he could say.

“By your will, Matriarch.”

Canvas Town, Tseludia Station, Pantheonic Territory, Fifthmonth, 1634 PTS

Karie sighed, resting in a room Wei had told her about outside the clan headquarters. According to what he had said, she would not be able to return until the public relations matter had been resolved. Still, such a small matter could hardly quell the excitement she felt. She had finally earned herself a title.

“Demon of Twinjade… Twinjade Demon…”

As said the name to herself, she smiled. It had a ring to it.

Of course, she didn’t quite appreciate being called a demon, but it was no surprise. It was along the lines of what she had anticipated, given the influence of Juen’s faction. Even Lorelei’s supporters wouldn’t miss the chance to drag her down, though she and Lorelei had no particular malice built up between them personally.

Karie sighed, glancing over at the things she had managed to bring over from her house inside the compound. It was a lackluster amount. Clothes, weapons, a few knick-knacks, craft supplies such as string and paints, and a small coniferous bonsai tree that she had been taking care of since before she had arrived on Tseludia. It was possibly her most prized possession, the last gift her father had given her before his death. She gave a small smile as she glanced at it, but then she lay down on the bed, trying to decide her next move.

Wei had suggested that it would be better if she laid low, but Karie knew that the war was her greatest opportunity to raise the value of her name. In addition, she needed to build up a force to back her. If not one within the clan, then an external force would do.

Perhaps she should speak to the Riverfiend, or to Lao Feng. Or both. Their forces each held a certain amount of influence within Canvas Town. She could promise them benefits after she became the matriarch. It would weaken the clan’s standing, somewhat, but Karie did not particularly care. It wasn’t as if most of the clan members had ever treated her well, anyway. As long as she became matriarch, she would be able to raise the clan’s power enough to make up for the difference.

If she needed to, she would even be willing to marry the two men into the family. An internal force was infinitely superior to an external one, after all. And despite being members of the clan in name, they would be ostracized by the others, and could only support Karie even harder.

The thought brought a wide smile to Karie’s face. It wouldn’t be easy, but entering discussions with the sect leader and the gangster should be her first move. In her current position, she had little to lose.

Karie’s thoughts were interrupted as she heard an electronic sound emerging from the hatch at the end of the room’s entry hallway. Someone had activated the doorbell. She frowned curiously as she stretched out the senses of her soul to gather more information, but Karie sensed nothing, as if nobody was present at all. Had the system merely malfunctioned?

She stood, walking over to the hatch, careful and ready to dodge at any moment. As a spirit refiner, she felt secure enough to inspect, but had to be wary of explosives and drones. She couldn’t trust her enemies not to make a deal with Staiven mercenaries.

Arriving behind the hatch, Karie opened the camera feed from the outside to see a Seiyal woman who she didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The woman smiled politely towards the camera, and gave a small wave. Her mannerisms were those of a mortal, rather than a martial artist.

“Are you Karie Hadal? I come bearing an offer for you.”

“An offer from who?” Karie asked.

“May I come in?” replied the woman, offering no answer.

Karie considered the matter for a moment, and then complied, pressing the button to open the hatch. The situation was strange, and the odd lack of ability to sense the woman was even stranger, but Karie felt that as a spirit refiner, so long as she stayed on guard, there was nothing that could happen to her.

The woman’s smile remained as she walked inside, but as the hatch closed behind her, her form shifted, changing from a Seiyal to a form that looked more similar to a Celan. However, she was far too skinny for a Jobu. Her hair was pink, though Karie knew that was clearly artificial.

“You want to be the next matriarch, right? I can help,” said the Celan woman.

Karie’s eyes narrowed as she heard the words. This person would like her to think that it was the famed information network of the Real Spider that had allowed them to find out about Karie’s goals, but Karie was inclined to think the opposite. She was not so foolish as to believe the Celans had that ability to alter their body. That was the domain of extant or formless miasma, not flickering. She was inclined to think this woman was actually a Tovus or an extant practitioner.

“Help…” said Karie. “Who do you work for, Juen or Lorelei? Or…” she paused, realizing another possibility. “Hold on, are you that Rachel I’ve been hearing about?”

The woman smirked.

“I won’t say there’s no connection, but you’re wrong on all counts, Miss Karie. I work for myself.” Her smile grew wider, looking almost like she was baring her teeth at Karie. “You can call me Janottka. I feel like there is a lot we can do to assist one another.”

Miasmic Enhanced Tovus: [As an amorphous race, the Tovus are capable of shifting the shape of their body to whatever they wish, within certain limitations. They can even roughly replicate the appearances of other races, though the reproduction is only effective from a distance. As a mortal race, there is no natural way to lift this limitation, but with the assistance of a Seiyal extant practitioner, a Tovus operative can realistically mimic any race they need to, so long as there is not an extreme size difference, such as that with an Exid Queen. Popular media has even depicted the concept of a Tovus cyborg altered with advanced technology to use formless and extant miasma, and able to perfectly replicate not just any race, but also any individual. While there is no evidence such a procedure exists, the concept is fairly well known within Canvasian culture.]