Blood Shaper

“Oh? Interesting things, you say? What kind of interesting things?”

Eleniah shot Kay a look from his side, visibly scolding him for using an adjective that could be misinterpreted, or in this case, interpreted exactly the way Kay meant it.

“What I was most interested in was learning about the fascinating bird creatures to your territories.” Immediately replied. He’d already had this line planned out ahead of time. He wasn’t going to lie to the man and tell him he’d heard great things about him, and he really was interested in the birds. “The description I received was enough to catch my attention quite keenly. They’re animals with the top half of a large bird and the bottom half of a large shark, yes? How are they not considered monsters?”

“Oh, yes, the scale-birds are quite interesting to those who’ve never experienced one. They are exactly as you describe, and like most creatures there are both monster versions and regular animals of the species.”

Ignoring the smug tone at that last section, since Kay knew that was not how that worked, he kept asking questions. “Are they completely aquatic or do they land occasionally? How do they breed?”

The duke failed to keep the small frown off his face as he answered. “I’ve never known one to be on land at any point, and I have no idea. You’d have to ask some kind of druid or other nature specialist for that kind of information. How has your stay in the Isles been so far?”

“Oh, it’s quite nice so far. The sights are wonderful, there’s delicious food here that we don’t get often back home, and the dungeon was quite entertaining!”

Once again Duke Karmondur couldn’t keep the scowl down. “That is wonderful to hear,” He raised his voice an octave, trying to sound like he was interested. “Have you managed to accomplish everything you came for?”

Kay had the man pegged at this point. Karmondur was a schemer, but he wasn’t any good at it. He obviously had people doing the real work for him or he’d never have been able to be the thorn in Alahna’s side that he had been for so many years. Kay had no intention of actually telling him anything useful, but it would be fun to string him along a little. “Oh yes, we’ve managed to be quite productive.” Kay wanted to sneer at the elf when he perked up with an excited look in his eyes. Instead, he kept the large boisterous smile he’d affected in place. “Eleniah was very happy to get to spend some time with Queen Alahna after so many years, and we had quite the time while she showed me around where she grew up.”

“Ah, yes.” The duke’s expression shifted from excited to annoyed. “I’m glad you were able to make the time. And Miss Eleniah, how nice to see you again.”

“Duke Karmondur, it’s been some time.” Eleniah replied, not ever trying to fake enjoyment. “How is the Resilient doing?”

His entire body stiffened and a flash of anger ran across his face. “It’s been completely rebuilt.” He hissed, “It’s the pride of my fleet.”

“How wonderful. And how is Captain Ventris? Still at the helm no matter the odds?”

“The captain is no longer in my service.”

“A pity.” She sighed dramatically, “She was the best captain that ship ever had. A shame to lose her excellent abilities.”

The duke’s face was ugly with rage and he was turning an alarming shape of purple as he silently glared at Eleniah.

As fun as this was, Kay didn’t want any shouting matches to start or for Eleniah to paste the duke. His self appointed mission for the evening was to swing by as many people as he could and see if he could pick up any eldritch vibes from them. It wouldn’t be as good of a test as using Purify Blood on them would be, but it would be more than enough to mark a few more people to look in to. He turned up the “gregarious person who has no clue how to read a room” persona a few notches and pounded the duke on the back while laughing. “Isn’t it nice to be able to meet up with people you haven’t seen in a long time? It’s always a pleasure for me!”

The duke jerked away from him. Visibly recovering from the surprise, he smoothed out his outfit before replying. “Of course it is. Your majesty, it’s been a pleasure meeting you, but I must speak to a few others before the queen arrives. I hope you have a wonderful time tonight.”

“And you as well!”

The duke stalked off to a small group a bit distant from anyone else and started speaking to them animatedly while also obviously trying to keep his voice down.

“He is not as smart as he thinks he is.” Kay muttered to Eleniah.

“Is anyone as smart as they actually see themselves? His problems are made worse by also thinking he’s above everyone else and that he’s smarter than them too.” Eleniah rolled her eyes and stopped watching Karmondur. “He’ll step too far one day and get executed or exiled.”

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“He’s been pulling moves that are that dangerous for him?”

“He hasn’t yet. Or better to say that he hasn’t been caught doing anything of that level, yet. He isn’t good at hiding how much he hates being in a position where someone else is in a position to tell him what to do.” She looked back at him scheming with his allies in plain sight. “The only reason he surrendered to Alahna in the first place was because he realized that if he didn’t capitulate he’d have nothing at all. I’m sure his thought at the time was that if he retained some level of power base he could use it to eventually take Alahna down.”

“I’m biased against anyone trying to hurt a member of your family, but is that likely to happen? He seems… ineffectual.”

“I’d bet a massive fortune that he’ll try, but I don’t think he’ll succeed. Alahna already has his number.”

“Well, he hasn’t been replaced, so we can move on for now. Would it work if we headed toward the food and drink so we can get close enough for me to start feeling people out?”

“No, it’ll look like you’re approaching people which will draw attention, especially since we don’t have a face reason to be near anyone.”

Kay’s instinct was to slump his head and shoulders in disappointment, but that would be uncouth so he settled for a tiny sigh. “Miri, fetch some refreshments, please.”

“Of course, your majesty.” She paused at his side, “If I may? It’s not uncommon for maids, butlers, and the like to be used as messengers or quiet spokespersons. Would you like me to see if I can lure some visitors over to speak with you? With the right intonation and word choice I can make it seem like it was their idea.”

Kay gave her an appraising look. “You can do that?”

“Easily,” She replied with a nod.

“Then, please. Be careful, though we are dealing with an enemy we don’t understand.”

Miri scoffed. “I’m not going to be running doing anything dangerous.” She said with a smile, “I know or know of most of the servants or helpers attending with the nobles and influential figures. I’ll stop to have a few words and let them know what a good idea it is if their employers were to speak with the visiting king while he’s in such a good mood. Who knows what benefits they might be able to reap with this one opportunity? It would be terrible if they were to miss out, and what rewards the employees would receive for making such a fantastic recommendation?”

“That’s devious as hell. Go wild.”

Miri slipped away with a grin.

“You know I had a thought,” Kay remarked as Miri dissappeared into the slowly growing crowd. Nobles were announced one after another along with others referred to just by name with an occasional Class name tacked on. “Why did they change how you were announced between a few days ago when we formally met Alahna and now? Earlier they announced you were her cousin and this time they just said ‘of Avalon’, which they also didn’t earlier. There’s obviously some protocol thing going on but I’m lacking information.”

“I left the Isles because of Alahna’s actions and while I didn’t spill details I didn’t make it a secret that she’d pissed me off. People were going to wonder about whether we were still at odds, and I’d have expected people to try and test me and see what they could get away with. A majority of the people that would randomly be in court for any and all proceedings are going to be the power hungry backstabbing types. Normal protocol is to only announce people’s System given titles and main Class, most of the larger nations do it that way currently. By going against normal protocol and having me announced as her family and not any of my current affiliations was a message to anyone with plans to use me as a stepping stone to step off.”

“Wait, so being head of Avalon’s academy isn’t a System title, so they don’t say it? And if she hadn’t done that?”

“Yes, a few nations out there still let anyone list out any title and accolade they want announced, but that fell out of style a few centuries back. It’s seen as more prestigious to have ‘real’ titles versus what people call ‘self granted’ ones. Obviously only titles given by the System are worth speaking of. As for if she hadn’t called me her cousin like that well, she has a distant cousin on the side of her family I’m not related to that was pulling some shady stuff and she cut him off. Several people tried to use him in their schemes and it didn’t end well for him. No one would try and hurt me, and even if they did they wouldn’t have succeeded, but it established a pecking order and saved us some bullshit.”

“Why announce you as ‘of Avalon’ and not include the family stuff tonight, then?”

“Because most of the people here will already know that I’ve still got her protection or they aren’t the type to worth warning. Normal people here to rub elbows with the movers and shakers aren’t going to try and pull me into something sinister and dump me with the bag at the end. Not that I’d go along with anything like that, but even stopping the initial scoping me out period saves us hassle.”

“Avoiding annoying people trying to pull shit is good. Glad your relationship with Alahna is doing better.”

“Me too. She’s still probably going to annoy the shit out of me with something soon, but that’s life. I love her, but I don’t love everything she does.”

Before Kay could reply, a short dumpy man with thinning hair in an outfit similar to Kay’s stomped up. He stopped out of reach of the guards and stared Kay up and down with a sneer on his face. “That looks like my work, but it isn’t.” He said in a prissy voice. “What is that material, some kind of synthetic?” He spat the last word like a curse.

“It’s blood actually.”

“I-“ He reared his neck back. “Blood?” He threw his arms in the air and stormed off. “Americans! Such savages!”

Eleniah stared after him. “What was that?”

“He’s that Outworlder fashion guy. You know, I never paid attention to the high fashion scene, but somehow that was exactly the kind of interaction I was expecting. He didn’t feel like a fake though.”

Miri slid in carry a tray with a number of small plates of food along with two glasses of a drink Kay didn’t recognize. “I’ve laid out the bait, you’ll begin having visitors soon.”

“Excellent job.” Kay grabbed a small sandwich and popped it into his mouth. “Want to make bets on whether the enemy tries to pull anything tonight?”

Eleniah gave a considering look over the crowd. “We don’t know their objectives, which makes it a fair bet, so sure. Hundred gold they don’t do anything?”

“You’re on, but we start after Alahna shows up.”

“Announcing her Majesty Queen Alahna of the Seramist Isles, Storm Bringer, Queen of Cerulean Waves!”

“Never mind, let’s get started. Miri, you can hold the money.”

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