Staying “asleep” didn’t get any easier when his captors decided to strip him. He actually had to concentrate and shift a little to allow his armor-self to be removed without being cut, since he normally removed it by shifting it off himself.

He managed it well enough, at least if the fact that they dosed him with still more of the sweet-smelling gas then continued was any indication. He did manage to catch a glimpse of one when he thought they weren’t looking; the man wore an enchanted cloth mask over his nose and mouth, probably to prevent the gas from affecting him as well.

There was quite a bit of muttering about how resistant he was to tzekin; that was probably the gas. That wasn’t particularly surprising; his ability to feign sleep wasn’t that good. They were probably fooling themselves more than he was fooling them, but they clearly trusted tzekin to put anyone to sleep.

The notable thing was that all of the comments were in Imperial. It was the same language the people in the Viper’s base spoke and it confirmed that whatever was going on here was almost certainly related to the attacks, even if this was a very different style.

He “woke up” in a soft, clean bed. The room was also nice, though the single window was small enough that escaping through it was more of a fantasy than reality for anyone who couldn’t turn into smoke, even if they were quite a bit smaller than Serenity. It was still nice to be able to see outside; the view was of a garden. It was even in good shape; if Serenity had to guess, it probably supplied a fair bit of the food the people who normally lived in whatever building he was being held captive in ate.

As kidnappings went, this had to be one of the nicer ones; there weren’t even any restraints. Serenity couldn’t think of a nicer way to wake up after being knocked unconscious in a fight.

On second thought, not in the hands of his enemies would probably be a good start.

That was deliberate this time, though, and it wasn’t like he’d actually been asleep. He knew exactly where he was and something about what his captors had done to get him here. He knew the layout of the area they’d brought him through, he had an escape plan, and he had allies waiting outside.

Yes, this was definitely better than last time in almost every way. The only way it was worse was that his enemies were stronger, better prepared, and knew something about him. Those were definite downsides, but they weren’t enough to counter all of Serenity’s advantages. They just didn’t know enough.

Serenity sat up and stretched. It gave him the opportunity to look around and confirm that he was alone in the room. With that settled, he looked around for clothes; unless they’d left his armor-self in the room, he wasn’t going to be wearing armor.

He knew his armor-self was nearby, but he couldn’t confirm that it was in the same room without seeing it. Armor didn’t exactly have eyes, normally. That was something he should probably fix whenever he had the chance; he might not have eyes, but there was no reason he couldn’t have a body-camera on his armor. He’d already incorporated a microphone, after all.

Strangely, his armor-self was indeed in the room, along with the padding he wore between his skin and the armor. His outer clothing was missing, but that was probably easily explained; even if it hadn’t torn when they tried to remove the webbing, it was probably filthy.

Instead of his own clothing, there was a set of drawstring pants, a robe, and a belt. It reminded Serenity of a martial arts gi, but it was all larger, clearly made to be worn over armor. A formal robe, then? Serenity didn’t remember the traditions of the Empire well enough to be certain.

:Rissa, they left my armor in the room with me. Can you ask Blaze what that means and why they’d have left a set of clothes … a robe, pants, and a belt … to go over them?:

Rissa must have been next to Blaze when Serenity asked the question, because her answer was nearly immediate. :He says they’re treating you as an honored prisoner, maybe even guest. Denying you your armor would be a declaration that they intend to kill you, while providing it means they do not have ill intent. Are your weapons there and what color is the robe?:

The color was important? :The robe’s a dark blue, almost navy blue. As for weapons … yes, they’re here. They’re next to the armor,: Serenity hadn’t really noticed until Rissa asked. Unlike his armor, the sword hilt really didn’t have any external senses, while the ax was simply an ax. He could call it to his hand but that didn’t help him know where it was.

Rissa paused for a little longer this time. :Blaze says that means they’re treating you like a noble. He has an entire set of rules for how to behave, but … I’m not sure I could remember them. So I had him give me the short version, which is apparently “don’t say who you are or you aren’t, but behave as if you’re equal to whoever you’re talking to, that should keep them off balance.” It sounds like there’s an entire complicated etiquette setup that has to do with who has what type of power and … yeah, I don’t even want to think about it. I hate plots within plots.:

:And I’m just about the worst person in the world to deal with that.: Serenity smiled wryly as he started to get dressed. :Does that mean I should wear everything or not?:

:Not the worst,: Rissa stated with a considering tone, :But definitely not the best. That might be Blaze, given how easily he rattled that all off. For the clothes, he says yes, wear the armor and the robe. How you wear the weapons is important and…:

Serenity shook his head and finished dressing while he waited on Rissa. She was probably trying to get Blaze to give a clear answer. It was an unclear situation, which didn’t help.

:Wear them,: Rissa finally said. :Carry your weapons on you but under the robe, where they’re harder to get at. Don’t try to hide that you’re wearing them. There’s some complicated cultural meaning to that, but as far as I can tell, it boils down to “I’m willing to talk now but if you push me I’ll fight.” I think that’s the right way to approach this and Blaze agrees. I’m pretty sure he agrees, at least.:

Serenity nodded and took off the robe for long enough to belt his weapons on beneath it.

When he opened the door, there was someone who was clearly a guard standing in the corridor watching Serenity’s room. Like Serenity, he was dressed with a robe over obvious weapons. Serenity was glad to know the meaning, even if it was second-hand. Unlike Serenity’s, his robe was a pale green. Serenity had no idea what the color meant, but it had to mean something or Blaze wouldn’t have asked the color.

“It’s good to see you awake,” the guard stated with an obviously fake smile. “Have you recovered from that nasty fall?”

“Nasty fall?” Serenity wasn’t immediately certain what the guard meant. Did he mean the “fall” where Serenity made himself trip and land face-first on the street or was he talking about some sort of cover story to explain everything? Did they think his memories weren’t clear? He wished he knew what the after-effects of the sleep gas they used were.

Wait, there was a way to know that. He should have asked earlier; it just hadn’t occurred to him. :Rissa, can you ask Blaze what the effects of tzekin gas are?:

The guard nodded before Rissa could answer. “Indeed. You seem much better; shall I inform the Lord that you’re feeling better and interested in speaking to him?”

Serenity nodded. That seemed like the best route forward right now. While he might be able to sneak around the house and find things out, that wasn’t really his best skill set and they were watching him. He’d be better off talking for now. They knew where the house was; he could always send Blaze in later if that was needed.

Serenity would never have expected that the healer would be the best stealth operative, but Blaze was good.

“Would you prefer to wait here or follow me to the Lord’s public room? I am not certain how long the wait will be.” The guard seemed overly polite to Serenity, but that was probably the cognitive dissonance of politeness after the assault and abduction.

Serenity paused for a moment, but there really wasn’t any reason to stay in the room he’d been placed in. It probably meant something about status, but Serenity really didn’t care. “I’ll follow you.”

The guard nodded and turned away. Serenity took the opportunity to study the corridor; like the room he’d just exited, it was plain and had very little personality. The walls were plaster rather than the drywall that was more common on Earth, but that was not unusual on Asihanya. The floor was tiled; again, while that was often a mark of money on Earth, it was simply normal on Asihanya. Anything other than wood or tile was rare.

The one thing that really made the corridor stand out was that each door had a small colored cloth hanging on a bar on the outside. Serenity turned to look at the door he’d exited before they turned the corner and saw that it was no exception. It had a deep blue piece of cloth on the outside; the color wasn’t repeated on any of the other doors he could see.

They weren’t far down the next corridor when Rissa finally came up with the answer. :Tzeka gas is a powerful soporific, relatively light side effects but extremely expensive to produce because the only known sources are Tier Fifteen or higher. It’s almost completely controlled by the Emperor personally, though a small amount does end up on the black market. Common side effects are mild confusion, vivid dreams or hallucinations, often nightmarish, and sleep paralysis. All side effects pass shortly after the gas itself clears from the system, which usually takes between twenty minutes and two hours. The required dosage is very small, but overdoses have no effect beyond lengthening the duration of unconsciousness.:

Rissa paused and he heard a chuckle come over the link. :Blaze is currently ranting about the wastefulness of using it in an open street on someone who doesn’t have to breathe.:

Serenity started to chuckle before the last part of Rissa’s statement registered. Someone who didn’t have to breathe? That had to be aimed at him, but … he had to breathe! There were advantages to not having to breathe, but they were massively outweighed by the disadvantages of being undead. He wasn’t undead. He’d know if he was undead and he definitely wasn’t. Elemental was closer but even that was only a technicality.

It explained some things, especially why he hadn’t been affected by the gas, but it couldn’t be true. He needed oxygen, didn’t he? Even monsters used oxygen. He knew he had some reduced biological processes, but breathing? That was vital for life.

Okay, he wasn’t exactly alive, but that didn’t mean he didn’t need to breathe. He still bled red, didn’t he? That was from oxygen, wasn’t it?

Serenity willfully pushed away the intrusive thought that perhaps he bled because he thought he should rather than because he needed to. His armor-self didn’t bleed and it didn’t breathe; neither did several of his other forms.

The form he was using right now was human, mostly, even if it kept slipping closer to his chimera form. Surely he had to breathe in this form.

No. He needed to ignore that. He had a mysterious enemy to figure out and his attention needed to be there.

Lillene

Blaze knows what he’s talking about … but this definitely wasn’t the best way to mention it to Serenity. 

If Rissa were there in person, she’d know that. At a distance … she may or may not be able to tell that she messed up. Fortunately, Serenity is really good at denying reality when he needs to.

Wait, is that actually a good thing?