The Onboarding Process, Pt. 1

The tang of old blood and old parchment wafted through Kael's office. He had been sitting there for who knew how long, rolling his cup between his hands, watching the liquid swirl in slow, methodical circles. 

It was half-empty now. Or half-full, depending on how optimistic you were about his mood.

"Thank you for the blood again."

Happy, then.

He set the cup down carefully, his fingers lingering on the rim. "Now… as I promised long ago, time to plan. And I swear I won’t run off and hide behind my generals this time, no matter to my detriment. This is just between you and me."

Elisa arched a brow. "That’s a first."

“Hmph. First time since you lost your memory, that is.” Kael exhaled through his nose, rubbing his temple with a faint groan. There wasn’t any real bite to his irritation.

He finally looked up at her. "So… where were we again? Ah, yes. Pauline’s gone, but she seemed upset about the rebels’ approach—some kind of rift, maybe." He gestured vaguely in the air. "The Deadeye was let out of his cage and is off travelling to Concordant lands to get his boys and girls in fighting shape for us."

Kael rolled his shoulder with a sigh. "Which brings us to this incredibly uncomfortable stage of sitting around, waiting, being unable to do anything about anything." He paused, brow furrowed slightly. "But what else?"

Elisa pressed her lips together, exhaling sharply.

She sighed. "There are potential collaborators in the forest gods too. The Martial Artists and the Highcliffian branch of the Academy of Magick shouldn’t even be concerned with this, but we can’t rule out the possibility. We haven’t touched them."

She shifted, looking at him expectantly.

"So what do we do?"

Kael opened his mouth—

The door creaked open—just a careful, hesitant push. It was a maid. Cynthia.

"Oh, for Lords' sake—"

“Um… I—I know it’s not my place,” she squeaked.

Elisa shot Kael a deadly glare, who he slightly winced at. "Cynthia, of course we will listen to you, no matter how much Kael whines."

“More annoyed of the fact our doors are so hollow…”

Cynthia shifted on her feet. “I just… I heard what's happening, and I think if you are looking for something to do, well... this would be it."

Elisa gave her a long look. “How so?”

Cynthia’s hands twitched at her sides. “Firstly, if we bring Kael along to help solve this problem, it would help. He should help. Oh, what am I saying, getting ahead of myself...” Her voice wavered slightly, but she pressed on. “My family has a lead on the statue in the Basin. I think. Something to do with the more rudimentary religions. It’s… connected to the forest spirits, but not quite.”

Kael frowned. “Not quite?”

She swallowed, glancing away. “I—I don’t know specifics. Just speculation on my part.”

Elisa raised a brow. “Then why are you here?”

Cynthia’s shoulders tensed. “Because before you go chasing down old gods and statues, maybe you could… um…” She hesitated, voice barely above a mumble. “…try fixing small-time politics first?”

Kael scoffed. “You do realize I’m a Count, not a village mediator.”

Cynthia winced. “I—I know, I just… some of my people have been talking. Most of their new neighbors, the demons… well, because of them, apparently, they've never stayed in a major town for more than a few weeks at a time.”

Elisa blinked. “And?”

Cynthia looked up, hesitating. “…And they don’t feel like they belong.” She shifted on her feet. “It—it’s making them uneasy. It’s… alienating. And your staff doesn’t really know how to handle it either. This is the same situation many people in Highcliff find themselves in, and I so thought...”

"Correct me if I'm not following..." Kael inhaled sharply, tilting his head back. “You want me to go around reassuring people?” He was never really subtle when it came to conveying his emotions in a casual setting.

Cynthia flinched. “N-no, I just…" Come on Cynthia, what's got you so stitched up all of a sudden? "I thought you should know.”

Elisa sighed, and she was about to violently correct Kael's deplorable behavior before the Count took the onus upon himself.

“Sorry, Cynthia, sorry. It’s just…” Kael let his hands fall onto the desk, staring at her. “I just feel like I have to personally coddle every displaced human in Highcliff.”

Cynthia bit her lip. “…I didn’t say that.”

“She also didn’t not say that,” Elisa couldn't help but add, amused at his sudden development of character.

Kael groaned. “But I hate dealing with humans who hate me.”

“Can you really blame them?”

“No. It just makes me feel like shit over things I had no control over. A conversation with these people will always end up in bad faith. It’s hard to make humans come around to you like that. Believe me: I studied up.”

Cynthia took a cautious step back. “I—I just thought… I should bring it up anyway. That's what I believe is happening, having lived both here and there for many years of my life. I wanted to do something before the situation got worse for demonkin, who are really just in the same boat as us. But I was just thinking… if you convince people from my hometown, the message may spread to others like wildfire. People travel in between villages all the time for trade. See where I am going with this?"

Kael mused. "So with our efforts to win the hearts of the people, we don’t even have to visit every village personally."

Cynthia beamed. "Exactly! It's not a guarantee... It's just that the pill will be easier to swallow if they discussed about your rule amongst themselves, y’know? There are a lot of villages.”

A long silence.

Kael exhaled slowly, rubbing his temple. “…An annoying but fantastic point. More people would be willing to listen to us if they trust us more. And seeing as someone is planting falsified information of this ‘regime’... ugh. I’ll show them a true regime; I'll have you know I fancy myself a great dictator! I got straight A's and everything!”

Elisa huffed, to which Kael ignored.

“Cynthia, look… you’re not wrong. But here’s the problem.” He sat up straighter, tone shifting—less flippant now. “If I go personally without official cause, the Council will think I’ve gone soft. They already think I’m playing house down here.”

Elisa leaned against the desk again, arms crossed. “Let me guess—if you act too fast, you look unstable. If you don’t act at all, you look useless.”

“You really do have a mind for this.” Kael’s gaze flicked toward her. “Yes, this kind of move has to come from the Council. If not, I’ll be ridiculed for meddling in local disputes when I’m supposed to be focusing on statecraft.”

He sighed. “And if they get wind that I’m personally wandering around patching fences and chatting to peasants, they’ll send word back to the homelands."

Elisa’s eyes narrowed slightly, thoughtful now. “Then maybe this is the perfect opportunity.”

Kael arched a brow. “Opportunity for what?”

“Opportunity for me to meet the Council in person. I'll just say I come bearing human representation for the human girl.” She tilted her head. “And if I’m going to keep standing at your side, then I need to see what kind of snakes you share a table with.”

Elisa pushed off the desk. “And if one of them even breathes a word against Highcliff… well. Let’s just say I’m feeling diplomatic.”

“That’s the most terrifying thing you’ve ever said.”

Cynthia cleared her throat softly. “So… will you tell them, then? About this issue?”

Kael nodded slowly. “I will. But this proposition? It’s better coming from you, Cynthia, since you are the one presenting the idea. An idea is only good enough if it can stand up to scrutiny. That's the demonkin saying, anyway. Regardless, you have to bring it to the Council as a formal petition. That way, when I show up, I’m not interfering—I’m responding.”

She looked startled but nodded quickly. “Y-yes, alright. I’ll write it up properly tonight.”

Kael pushed his chair back and stood, flexing his shoulders.

He moved to the side of the room, hand outstretched. His fingers began tracing sigils in the air—gold thread lighting beneath his fingertips, curling and sparking into shape.

A faint vibration rolled through the room, the air shifting like something just slightly out of sync with the rest of the world.

Then, with a final flick, the spell snapped into place—sigils suspended like ink across invisible parchment.

“Council notification spell active. Meeting scheduled for tomorrow.”

He dusted his hands off.

“The floor is yours, ladies. I truly hope you know what you are doing, Elisa...”

She cracked her knuckles. "Don't worry about us, Prince."