The evening was a happy occasion for once. Their cook outdid himself; there was a filled duck in orange sauce with ratatouille while dessert was Titania's favorite strawberry tart. Everything positively melted on her tongue. Everyone was eating together, even Raon; miraculously he ate without having to be shouted at twice to stop playing with his knives.
It was a novelty.
Dex, who was present at the main table, was being shown proper manners by Emery next to him. It was clear that his education was still work in progress though, as he continued to devour food at a rapid pace. That was fine though, and nobody said anything as he would learn in time. Eventually the day would come where he would feel comfortable eating at a leisurely pace.
Titania’s mother set down her utensils and spoke, “So tomorrow you will be meeting with Mikki.” Everyone else perked up and stared at Titania.
“Yep.” She answered her mother, voice filled with anticipation.
“Good, I had not expected you to get this far in a time this short. I have sent you a file on the phrases normally used by spies of his Level, and Chry…” Her mother turned to their oldest sister. “...I wish for you to lend her Zhu Wei; it will make our work easier if we manage to establish some form of physical contact between him and Zhu Wei.”
Chry placed her fork down chewing carefully before speaking. “Zhu Wei? He is our only seer and would make a horrible guard. Also, I doubt he would be able to establish any meaningful connection to a combat telepath in such a short time… I would rather send Emery or Drake with her.”
“Well….” Their mother held her breath for a moment. “...Zhu Wei is truly… not the ideal bodyguard, but it is worth a try. If I remember correctly he has been requesting a leave for a while now, so a small shopping trip would do him some good.” Then she moved to Titania, “The last decision lies with you though.”
“I would like to have Zhu Wei with me, if he really can establish a seer connection with Mikki it will make everything a lot easier. Actually, it would take care of our entire problem, but he is only fifth order and although Mikkis level is officially sixth. It may not necessarily be true, there is also no guarantee that Zhu Weis interference will go unnoticed.”
“Well I could always simply kill him.” Raon suddenly suggested.
“NO!” All of them shouted loudly while their Mother rubbed her temples before speaking further, “This is the best opportunity we have had in years to get those rotten bastards out of their ratholes. Titania has done well establishing contact and arranging for a meeting of the kind she did. Subtility, my son, is not your strong suit; the last time we had you on an undercover mission of such kind it ended in a massacre that was rather hard to cover up.”
“Yeah I remember.” Cedric muttered under his breath, “I had to transport bodies the entire night while Emery had a bonfire running to get rid of them, it was nasty even by your standards.”
Titania suddenly had a bad feeling.
“It was not the one we had going on our Midnight Picking two years ago, right?” she asked cautiously. The answer was found in the complete and total silence.
Gods I should have known that it was a far too good happenstance that we would do something like that… I had marshmallows over that.
“...Anyway Titania, take Drake and …. Dex with you please.” Her mother suddenly said, and Titania stilled.
“Drake and Dex?” She asked slightly surprised, their butler she understood but their new addition was the last person she had expected to bring along.
“Mhh, well Dex has to learn the ropes and Drake is there to teach him how to behave as a bodyguard.There is no better teacher then reality, especially since we are not expecting murder and mayham on your outing, it is about conversation.” Their mother shrugged her shoulders, “It will be good practice and no matter how much of an excellent spy this little pest is that you need to stick with, even he will not expect anything grand to happen with a child in your group.”
“Alright then.” Titania said, and Dex was suddenly listening very attentively. “So I bring Dex along to relax his guard. Mom, do you truly think it is a good idea, he is after all a child.”
“A child, that is the point, he must be just that a child, no pretending, no acting involved. It is about presence, about the Illusion of an innocent outing and you bringing along a child for an outing while instead your acquisition's purpose is relaxing the other party with their presence.”
“The city?” he asked with wonder in his voice, “the real city, I can get there?” he asked, his eyes wide with wonder.
“Where else?” Cedric asked him, “The Slums? it is not a place where you go shopping. All we do there is deliver food and get rid of the monsters.”
“I know but I have never been to the city, it is so large, so far away from here…and the slums.” Dex said and Chry shrugged her shoulders.
“Not anymore, not for you. You are Tarajan now.” She said, “The city is a place where you can go and leave as you wish too. We believe in strength, we believe in those who help themselves and by having the courage to follow Raon as long as you did and managing to convince him that you make a good pet you did help yourself.”
“Help myself… I’d say I was just being desperate.”
Suddenly, their mother pinned him to the wall with a sharp gaze, “You helped yourself.”The meal continued in silence with her words hanging heavy in the air.
***
The next day, Titania found herself sitting in a limousine being driven by Drake. Dex was seated in the passenger seat, his attire making him a perfect match for the older man, even if he was a bit downsized. She had to admit, he did look rather cute in the child sized suit, especially with the pearls woven into his hair. According to his blushing confession, it had been one of Chry’s birds who put them there.
The way he was blushing when he came downstairs was adorable!
Mikki was waiting for them at central plaza, his blonde hair a dead giveaway as he waved to her while Drake parked the limo in a public garage. Titania waved back and ran over.
“Hi.” She greeted him, “Sorry I, we are a few minutes late. Let me introduce you, this is my Bodyguard for today, Drake.” Drake gave a short bow before Titania continued, “And his apprentice Dex, who is coming along since we are not expecting any big dangers yet.”
Although I am rather sure that Lyle is lurking somewhere with an entire team of people ready for mayhem.
“Oh, you never go out with no bodyguard, no?” He asked and stretched out a hand, “I am Mikki, a classmate of Titania.”
“Nice to meet you Sir.” Drake bowed again and Dex followed suit, doing his best to imitate the elegant bow, “I must apologize for out presence. Miss is seldom going out, and as a crucial member of the Tarajan an increased security is absolutely necessary. That aside, we are of course fulfilling whatever request of yours may come up as well.”
“No problem, nice having more people.” Mikki said while waving his hands to convey that he was not bothered the least, “Where do we go first?” Titania grinned at him.
“Five Halls.” She said, “It is one of the biggest attractions of the city and the very first Monster Hunter Union; the one where most of the hunter families from today originated from.”
Grabbing his hand she swallowed her nervousness, determined to give him a good tour of the city.
Before I can pry information from him I have to make him genuinely believe he is my friend.
“Five Halls is pretty impressive; it’s a giant greenhouse today since the Union is no more. They have a lot of exotic plants there, and the roof is entirely made of glass.” Titania told him while walking over the street, from the corner of her eye she saw Dex fidgeting and also listening attentively.
Well this will probably be more of a tour for two people.
“Mhh, in my city the Union is still around, how come here different?” he asked and Titania grinned.
“Easy, after the Union was formed a few families, or bloodlines as they were soon called, showed themselves to be very strong users and kind of made their own independent organizations. They carried so much influence that most Hunters joined them instead of the Union and so the Union slowly vanished.”
“Tarajan too?” He asked curiously.
“Nope, we are fairly new in comparison. Upstarts and newcomers, most people that have a special bloodline or the genetic crack code to develop a strong ability usually have two choices if they are born here.” She pointed to Lumiere Tower. “Either join in and make a contract with a strong family for protection. For women, it is mostly a marriage contract. Or a contract that should a baby born in a union with a specific other show potential it will be handed over and educated by the family itself instead of the mother. For man, a lifetime contract to work for them.”
“That's cruel.” He noted.
“Quite so.The Tarajan are basically breaking out of the mold, that is why we are so disliked. We are new, we make them concerned, and we are…well not exactly the greatest fans of the government, and the dislike is mutual.” She smiled at him, “You can read up on all of that stuff in the Networks, it is no secret. Along with a lot of other urban legend stuff about some of us.”
“Urban Legend, Fantasy Stories?” He asked questioningly and Titania nodded.
“Exactly, you should read those FanFictions about Raon, my oldest brother. I mean some of them are…hilarious if you know him.”
“Imagine so.” Mikki started laughing, “When I looked at you, then I received some weird stuff.”
“Oh tell me, I never Networked myself.” and she was genuinely curious, because she really never networked herself.
“Well, one story you are hero, on another you lay the city ash.” He said and then started laughing, “There is one place where they say you are secretly the ruler of Tarajan. There are also fanart around, most of them being quite far from reality.”
“Good gracious, I am leaving that position quite happily to my mother.” Titania said laughingly, “Over there is Five Halls.”
She pointed at the greenhouse that was shining in the sunlight. The line at the entrance was rather long as the amount of people allowed access was limited. Bypassing that entirely, Titania dragged them to the VIP entrance. Waiting for a few moments an employee came jumping and bowed to them.
“Welcome Sirs, the Miss, may I see your reservation?” He asked, and Titania took out her purse.
“No reservation.” She said and showed her city pass. It was glowing faintly yellow and the employee's eyes widened before he bowed even lower.
“It is an honor, Miss Tarajan.” He said, “You are gracing us infinitely with your gracious presence.” His voice was low so no one would hear them, last time their mother had visited she had made very clear just how much she valued discretion in all things.
“I would like to show my friend Five Halls.” She said, “Is it currently possible, if not we can come by later.” She eyed the long line, it was a weekday so she had not expected Five Halls to be this crowded.
The good weather probably played a large part in it.
“For someone of your stature always, if you would excuse me for a second I will speak to the manager.” The receptionist vanished and a few seconds later a slightly corpulent man in a black suit approached and handed them four small cards.
“These are our special passes, we hope you enjoy your stay at Five Halls to the fullest.” He said and Titania nodded thankfully as they entered the cooly climated greenhouse. There were pathways everywhere, wooden bridges and next to her Mikki stared in amazement.
“It's amazing we only have park at home.” He said.
“Only a park? Well this is the bigger city for sure. Look over there, those are orchideas.'' She showed him a few beautiful blooming flowers on a tree, their long roots hanging down from it, “They have gone almost extinct today but here you can still see them.“
“Beautiful.” Mikki stared at the flower and Titania couldn’t help herself but stare at him.
“Come on, I can show you more.” She dragged Mikki with her, Drake and Dex hot on their heels. Mikki was visibly amazed and if it was all an act Titania would give him an oscar nomination; she had to call herself to reason a few times, remind herself it was an act. Although Mikki was not the only person who enjoyed the outing; Dex was equally fascinated, and soon he was very much more behaving his age. Sometimes almost getting lost on them when something caught his attention, a fact which brought a faint smile to Drake's face. The elder butler seemed to be very happy that Dex was opening up more and more.
A coffee cup and a tart later Mikki suddenly looked at her with a smile. “Tell me about your family, I'm curious” He asked, “what true, what untrue?”
Titania leaned forward and grinned, “Only if you tell me about yours, alright?” she smiled at him and suddenly she knew.
He knows I am spying on him.
She did not know where it came from but that certainly was hitting home so deeply that there had to be a truth in it.
