It's been a little over seven months since the battle with Jeanette, and we haven't had a single monster event, not even any of the smaller ones we usually went on patrol for. We're still surveying the government compound every night, though, and Faye even moved into a new apartment even closer to it, from which she can see it from the roof of her building. There was a week or so where more government employees than usual were buzzing about the place. We were kind of on high alert, but nothing big happened, and we went right back to business as usual.
It's been kind of boring, honestly. Which isn't a bad thing at all. It's allowed us to focus on our studies, let those of us who had to take them pass our finals... Asha better than most of us, of course. And Eden and I have finally had some time to slow things down and just get to know each other. It's been nice.
I didn't get into my preferred college in Northstar Bay, but the college in Redhaven was happy to accept me into its fashion program. It's about 90 minutes by train from home, practically in the middle of the desert, which meant I either had to move there or fly there every day. I chose to move.
And so did Eden.
We live together now.
She's modeling full-time now, while I study and work part time at a coffee shop. Cliché, I know. And Eden earns way more than enough to take care of the both of us, but I just don't feel right about not contributing at all, so we worked out a deal where I pay what I can and take care of more of the chores at home. In turn, she got to pick out where we live and pays for the majority of our expenses.
We got into a couple of small fights in the beginning, but I think we've figured things out for the most part by now. The apartment is bigger than what I'd have gotten on my own, so I appreciate that as well. We've got a bedroom, a spare bedroom/office space, and a large open plan living room with the kitchen off to one side. Pretty standard furniture, and it took us a while to agree on how to decorate everything, but we eventually settled on something we both liked: monochrome with a few accent colors in each room and all the pillows and soft things I wanted.
Chibi Destiny and Eden's twin Squires have been getting along about as well as we could have hoped, and she's very happy to have someone to talk to when I'm off at work or school, too. The three tiny ones have even made up their own little games they play both when they're alone and when Eden and I are home.
It was a little challenging to get privacy for just the two of us the first few weeks, but after we established some boundaries, that was solved too, and now we just make sure to close the bedroom door.
Asha and Ayame finished school too. Asha got into the top physics program at the university in Westview, and decided to move there as well. Since Shawn lives out there, he's helped her get settled in and find her way around, and from what I can tell they're both happy to have the company of someone they knew as children.
I have to admit I've been wondering if something else is going on, though. They hang out an awful lot.
Ayame chose to take a year off from studying. She knows she probably wants to get a journalism degree, but doesn't feel ready to start it yet, so she still lives with her parents and has taken an assistant job at the same company her father works at.
Gathering the Knights usually swaps between Faye's place and ours, but since we're still keeping an eye on that compound, Faye's makes more sense most of the time, such as today. We've finally finished combing through all the data we stole from the government, and now we want to go over it and discuss what, if anything, our next step is going to be. Find the original chapter at NovelPing.
"So, for the most part, it seems to me that whatever the government is doing in that facility is somewhat benign," Ida finishes explaining. Just like on the night we successfully procured the data, she and Asha have been the two people primarily combing through everything we stole. "They seem to mostly be trying to figure out how to measure and read magic scientifically, which, as the six of us know, is going to be somewhere between very difficult and actually impossible. We can only surmise that such efforts are in the service of trying to create a way to replicate what the Celestial Knights can do, though."
"And that's where the issues begin arising," Asha takes over. "Even in the best-case scenario, letting governments have a way to harness magic can lead to some seriously nasty outcomes. In the scenario of them figuring that shit out based on Renata's magic... Well, I'm sure we all can imagine where that'd go."
"Yeesh, yeah, don't want that. Is there that much of a difference between her magic and yours, though?" I ask, indicating some of the other Knights' Squires sitting around the table. "I mean, if all of you were originally created by Renata, isn't it all essentially the same source?"
Kareh, Asha's lizard Squire clears his throat. "I can see why you would think so, young Destiny. The difference would be in the approach and intent. Over the course of the last seventy years, the intent of our magic has been protection and in the service of a greater good. Renata's has been conquest and death. The intent flavors and changes our magic as time passes, which is why our Knights don't suffer the same corruptive effects your friend Jeanette did when she connected with Renata." I wince a little at his words. Knowing the unbreakable bond of the oath the Knights swear makes it difficult for me to see the Knight-Squire transaction as purely good.
"Speaking of," Ayame chimes in. Her wound from the big fight has fully healed, but unlike any suffered in combat with monsters, this one has left a nasty scar that just won't go away, and she's still proud and leaves it on display. "Any updates on Jeanette? And does anyone have any ideas how we can bring her back after reading all that government data?"
"Asha and I still visit her a couple of times a week," I respond. "Just to check in on her and get a sense of how things are going medically, at least. She's no longer disconnected from the tapestry, but nothing Chibi or I do has much effect. And she's been moved out of isolation since the doctors couldn't detect transmissible infection and her immune system isn't compromised. But they are starting to get a little suspicious about the lack of muscle atrophy and no next of kin getting in contact aside from us. Chibi and I keep combing the threads around her whenever we visit, but still can't find anything useful."
"And since the government don't even know what they're dealing with, their research also doesn't give us any hints as to how we can help her come back," Asha continues. She's sitting beside me, close enough that I can feel her nervous energy. "But what I'm really worried about is what if the government catches wind of a certain anomalous patient at the hospital and cross-reference with the Twin Roads guest logs? Pretty easy to put two and two together and figure out Jeanette is the only survivor."
"So... What're you saying?" Eden hasn't talked much today. She's let the rest of us carry the conversation.
"I'm saying we need to either find a solution to Jeanette's coma real quick, or we might need to get her somewhere the government can't just snatch her up."
"We can't just kidnap her, Asha, that'd be crazy," Ida chides.
"Why not? The magic sustains her, she doesn't need IVs for anything, and it'd give Faye much easier access to her, which is honestly probably our best shot right now." Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
There's a few moments of silence before Eden muses out loud. "It'd probably put us at odds with the authorities. I don't see how we manage to kidnap a coma patient without causing a fuss. But we wouldn't be the first Knight squad with that issue. And we already took that chance when we stole this data."
"Seventh generation, Serenity's crew?" I ask, just to confirm, and Eden nods. That generation of Knights is still somewhat notorious for the way they actively engaged in ecoterrorism. Of course, nowadays more and more people are starting to see why they did that, and their actions are viewed in a better light, but for a long time they were sort of the black sheep of Knight generations. "I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea, but where would we put her if we did this?"
Eden bites her thumb nail a little. It's a nervous habit I'm trying to get her to stop, but it seems deeply ingrained in her. "Our place. We already have a spare bed and magical security measures. And we're the only ones in the crew with extra space and no parents or civilian roommates."
Her suggestion makes perfect sense, but I'm not sure I like it, even if it would give me a way to keep an even better eye on Jeanette. We still don't know the extent of Renata's dark magic or what sort of reach it gives her. For all we know, she might still be able to affect Jeanette and the world around her, even after I severed the connection. But she is right. It's practically the perfect solution. "Yeah. And it'd be an excuse to hang out with Asha more," I half-joke, sort of lost in my thoughts.
"More sustained contact with her might also let me gain a better understanding of why nothing we do affects her," Chibi Destiny breaks in. "I could even work on it while you're not home. I think it's a good idea, Destiny."
Faye has been mostly silent, though her chiming in now is almost to be expected. "And as Asha mentioned, it would also allow me to spend more time with her, and in my transformed state, too, which might let me discover something that could help her sooner."
"I hate it when you all make sense sometimes." I'm grumbling and fiddling with my wristlets to keep my hands busy while I think. "But I can't find any reason to disagree." Turning my head to Eden on my other side, I grin a little. "Guess privacy might become difficult again, huh?"
"I mean, you can always just kick us out whenever you wanna get it on!" Asha exclaims, breaking into laughter that eases everyone's tension as we join her in laughing.
"Alright squad. Let's come up with a plan then." It was a communal decision, but as always, it's our leader who takes charge of getting the more concrete things done, and we spend the rest of the evening brainstorming and planning out what to do. And we actually manage to come up with a plan that might not draw the wrong kind of attention if we're lucky.