Hook.

“To begin this tale, let us start at the source of what decides something is beautiful.” I tapped my forehead. “Your mind. You see your body can be seen as the Emanai itself. With your skin protecting you as the Border Walls keep us safe, While your mind makes all the important decisions just like the Summit of Speakers does here in the capital.”

I tapped the book I was reading beforehand, as my example. The bulk of it describing how their form of parliament operated.

I moved on. “To do its job correctly, the Summit needs to know what is happening across the country. How the crops are faring and are we getting invaded at any moment or not. Right?”

“Yes, Emanai has an extensive network of mail carriages and horse riders that deliver important missives as well as stations in between so they could exchange their tired mounts and keep going,” Anaise replied.

“Good, and your body has a similar network as well sending the missives to your mind every moment.” I noticed her sceptical look. “Your back is the main highway of these messages, so you might have heard of people losing the ability to walk or move if they suffered an injury.”

Anaise thought for a second then nodded in agreement. “I’ve heard of similar tales from my second-father. It is an observed occurrence in the hand units that were hit by mages during battle. I guess that makes sense, go on.”

Back trauma across the large group of people…maybe the war mages were summoning boulders or something.

I continued, nevertheless. “So your mind is challenged with an important task, apart from keeping you alive. It needs to receive these missives, create a correct description of what is going on, and then make a decision based on that. The big challenge is to make sure the missives are about the same moment in time. Just like in Emanai, each missive takes a different time to travel. Unlike the Emanai, these missives lack the time stamp of when things have occurred.”

I moved closer to her legs. “So your mind waits, it delays the missives that are coming closer.” I pointed at my face. “Until they would synchronize with the missives that come from afar.” I gently touched her foot, making her glance downward for a second, only to return her eyes on me.

“But that means that your mind is always one step behind, less than a heartbeat in the past. You might say that it is irrelevant. Since we are all like that, thus it doesn't matter. When all are in the past no one truly is. But other objects aren’t. Dead things. That do not think.”

My fingers slipped off her sandal only to throw it gently into the air. Anaise followed its arc with her eyes as I caught it with my other hand. Engrossed.

My previous hand gently massaged her foot as I went on with my story. “Your mind needs to know how an object falls, how an arrow flies. It needs to know the present, and not the past it lives in. If it doesn’t, you will miss every fruit thrown your way, you won’t be able to dodge the strikes of an enemy.”

My voice was soft but loud enough that she didn’t hear her own sighs of contentment, as she slowly relaxed into my touch.

“That is why the main task of your mind is predicting the future.” I dropped the bombshell. Making her perk up once again. I’ve actually noticed it as a trend among the Kiymetl wermages at least. They always get twitchy when I mentioned anything about the future and predictions.

Her attention was once again on me, ignoring the increased attention her foot was getting in the process. I was fine with that, I wasn’t trying to distract her with my words, but to provide a soothing, pleasurable background to my speech. Almost at a subconscious level, just vivid enough for her to remember the conversation fondly.

Line.

“Your mind does that every waking moment of your life. Indiscriminately. This might be the reason why you think about jumping when standing high above or get invasive thoughts based on the comments of another person. That is your mind trying to predict what would happen if it does these things only to freak itself out by the consequences. Making them memorable.”

I enjoyed the feeling of her soft skin, her toes wiggling at the ministration of my fingers. And yet she still didn’t pay attention to any of it. “Most of these remain unseen, unnoticed. But the correct predictions make our mind happy. Making us feel pleasure. And by correct predictions I mean when our mind finds a pattern.” I timed my speech correctly, making her experience a jolt of relief with my last word.

I slipped her sandal back on, leaning away. Satisfied. Waiting.

She frowned at the loss of sensation, glanced at her feet and blushed.

Eventually, she asked, “And these patterns make things beautiful?”

“Pretty much. At least aesthetically pleasing.” I allowed only to be surprised by a gentle touch.

Her foot was inching over to me, already free of the sandal. The one I haven’t touched yet.

Sinker.

I didn’t smirk or had shown any visible reaction as I kept talking. My hands picking up her daintily foot into a gentle embrace that promised more. “We find faces and shapes pleasing because we recognize the patterns behind them, how similar the left side is compared to the right or how little deviation is there caused by disease or damage. You might not like a specific song, but all your songs are written with only five notes, combinations of which people felt as most pleasing. The reason they sound pleasing is once again because they have a simple ratio between them. Easy for your mind to pick up.”

Anaise twisted around, leaving her large tail to swish without concern. A white tip brushing against my hands occasionally only to retreat when it did so. Her second leg returned into my arms, as she relaxed over on the sofa. Giving me quiet consent to keep going. I haven’t said anything about this, but neither did she. I still wasn’t sure about my limits so I decided not to push further, content in giving my hands some extra practise in foot massages.

“Is that why he likes it so much, then?” She mumbled leisurely. “Because he sees the patterns, unlike other people?”

“Everyone can see these patterns,” I responded as my arms slid over her calves, pumping the blood away from her feet. I noticed her blush increasing as I did so, prompting me to retreat into the safer territories. I had enough time to push my boundaries further later. “What separates him from the rest is the fact that he had studied it so much that what others perceive as boring or challenging, he does without effort. Thus his mind enjoys the wonders of discovery without the struggle that others expend in doing so.”

“Do you think it is why he is so fast with the Flow?”

Well, that was a completely different type of fish I’d managed to catch. Still big and delicious, however.

“That is probably something you know better than I. My knowledge doesn't extend past the codex you have given me.”

She opened her eye and looked at me while still lying down. Only to scrunch her nose petulantly.

“When my mother forbade me to talk to you about Flow, I thought it was a punishment for you. And now you made me feel like I am the one being left out. Perhaps I should limit my own teachings as well so that you know how I feel?”

“Please don’t.” I smiled placatingly. “Your mother is indeed correct, that learning about Flow is my desire. Unfortunately, she thinks that I have to learn to behave among your kind first. Which I begrudgingly agree with, as well.”

I had no issues in telling her about my priorities. Aikerim already knew my fascination with Flow and Anaise would be bound to figure it out sooner or later. Besides it was something that I wanted to know, not needed. They can dangle this information in front of my nose as much as they want. I will only bite if the bait is delicious enough and I had no objections to being ‘caught’ at that specific time.

Her lips spread in a victorious smile, showing the pronounced canines within. “Hmm. I wonder how far are you willing to go for me to look the other way?”

I raised an eyebrow, curious. Her words were suggestive but she hadn’t implied anything physical so far, not even acknowledging the fact that her feet were still on my lap. “Well, that certainly depends on what the Lady of the House might ask.” I sent the ball back into her own court.

Her smile turned from predatory into a pleased one, as if she had caught her prey. “I’ve heard that you send missives to my grand-uncle on a regular basis, perhaps you could ask him a few things for me as well.”

I blinked. “I think I might have a better proposal instead.”

“Oh? And what is it? Do tell.” Anaise eagerly replied.

I pulled a Gestr from my tunic. “When I met your grand-uncle for the first time, he gave me this. And told me to return whenever.” I smiled as I saw the look of comprehension dawning on her face. “Would the Lady of the House want an escort to see Virnan Shah personally? Perhaps tomorrow?”

Her eyes moved from the golden medallion and looked into mine. Like two precious emeralds. “I think, as my personal attendant, you need some experience in escorting a noble lady around the city. Tomorrow sounds like the perfect opportunity to improve your skills.” She slowly murmured.

My smirk mirrored hers as we descended into the discussion of our future plans. Occasionally disrupted by a conspiratorial chuckle.