Jezebella Vigigi the Younger sat on the cushion bordering her open window, her legs hugged to her chest. The breeze from the outside tousled her tightly coiled hair and stirred her diaphanous dress. The mist obscured most of the city below, leaving her alone with the blue sky and the clouds.

She reached a hand out and brushed her fingers through the Filter Field. Installed over her windows to prevent small airborne particles from entering her chambers, the Filter Field caused a gentle, tingling sensation to come over her digits. It provided very little protection: it wouldn’t prevent anyone from entering her room, nor would it prevent her from leaving. However, the slick black of the exterior was impossible to scale, and Jezebella had never been attacked.

Jezebella Vigigi XXVII, her mother, was entertaining guests downstairs. Jezebella the Younger, confined to her room, had little else to do than her job: monitoring their agricultural holdings.

She removed her hand from the window, swiping it down and leftward. A holo display appeared in front of her, filling the room from floor to ceiling. The display began to react to her thoughts, pulling up the android displays. It rapidly shuffled through video feeds, staying on each android’s point of view for less than a second.

Suddenly, the shuffling halted. Jezebella the Younger narrowed her eyes. Records of planet 39744 filled her vision. It had been hundreds of years since any sapients bothered the androids on this planet.

“Fringeworld,” she murmured to herself. “Could a new sapient race have risen to prominence?” she wondered. It wasn’t unheard of, but it was rare. The universe was ancient, and most of it had long since been colonized or abandoned as utterly inhospitable.

But on the Fringe, organic development was still possible. She played through the android’s feed from the beginning of contact with this new group of sapients. After watching that video feed, she started to watch others, gaining a better understanding of contingent with each interaction. The sapients appeared in colors ranging from deep brown to off white, with hair in a variety of different styles.

A few of the sapients interacting with the androids weren’t this new species, however. Some were strange, beastly creatures, while others were a species she recognized as verdora, the sapients from which her family had leased planet 39744.

One of the sapients interacting with an android in real time unexpectedly prompted an informational profile to fill her vision. She briefly skimmed the report, cocking her head as it finished.

“Church of the Dragon?” she murmured pensively. “What a weird name for the organization leading this new group of sapients.”

Asil asked for the android’s name. After a moment of thought, Jezebella made the split-second decision to seize control of the android and humor her.

“Jezebella.”

“That's a cool name,” Asil replied. Jezebella smiled, then let the android once more take control.

“I lied. What do you think my name is?” the android chuckled.

Jezebella furrowed her brow, then coughed lightly. The android was supposed to avoid revealing the identities of herself and her family...but this was a bit forced.

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Asil seemed perplexed by the android’s sudden about-face. “Uh...”

“Concision is everything, dear,” the android said. Jezebella the Younger snorted a laugh.

”Maybe I was wrong to assume,” Asil replied testily. “Do you have a name?”

“No.”

How boring, Jezebella thought. She decided to take control again.

“Fine then, no need to string me along. What are these crops called?” Asil asked.

“Vigigi.”

Her eyebrows rose, an action Jezebella’s HUD informed her indicated incredulity.

“Vigigi?” Asil asked.

“Why the focus on names, hmm? You seem to have a few of your own,” Jezebella retorted, amused at Asil’s confusion.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she replied.

“Dear, don't lie to auntie now, hmm? It's not that strange.” Jezebella laughed out loud as Asil’s face visibly began to redden.

“Why are you here?”

Jezebella paused. There was a good reason why she was here, alright.

"Some prisons are black metal," she said, thinking of the crashing sheets of metal that formed Ystal City. Then she looked out her window. “Some are clear sky.”

“Why are you here?” Asil repeated, her forehead skin folding in on itself in an unsightly fashion.

“I know of you,” Jezebella admitted. Her HUD made sure of that. “Church, Asil, and girl of another name. Your legacy spreads by the day and gate, and I am here, unchanged.” Her HUD had wasted no time to inform her about the recent appearance of a powerful kursi: the Asil before her. But Jezebella had recognized the unique opportunity she had been presented with: Asil was an unusually powerful kursi, and from a Fringeworld, to boot. She would be wholly unconnected to any of the Ildritch–the powerful players from Ildrip, the Core Worlds.

A potentially untethered knife.

While Jezebella thought all of this over, the android had reverted back to its own controls.

“How long have you been here?” asked Asil.

“Time is meaningless.”

Jezebella studied Asil as she continued to banter with the autonomous android. When she realize the kursi was about to leave, however, she once more assumed control of the android’s speech.

"”Remember the name: Jezebella Vigigi.”

“Who?” she asked, her forehead crinkling once more.

“Jezebella Vigigi.”

“Why?” Asil wondered.

Jezebella’s mouth popped open. Suddenly, she heard a crash from downstairs. She sighed, then shrugged. At the end of the day, she didn’t really expect anything to come from this encounter. The Fringe was simply too far away.

But at the same time, perhaps this untethered knife before her would find some way to reach Ystal City. She hoped that this encounter would plant seeds of curiosity in the young kursi’s mind.

“What, how, when, where?” Jezebella the Younger finally answered. “Who's to say?”

Asil shook her head, then turned and sped away.

Jezebella dismissed her holo display, no longer in the mood for work. Besides, after the crash downstairs, her mother would probably need her help to keep things under control.

She walked over to her closet, its doors opening as she drew near. She grabbed her garnet-colored gloves, the symbol of the Vigigi’s, then stepped over to the mirror in the corner. She flipped through her preset faces, choosing the one called “Fierce.” As she selected it, she watched as the pigments of her face changed to match the face in the mirror. Contoured cheeks, stark white across her nose, black on her jaw and neck. Characteristic red and black framed her eyes.

She nodded, tugging her gloves a final time before she exited her room and headed downstairs.