Two gently closed the door behind her.

The room was dim, but that was leagues brighter than the utter dark outside the door. It had something to do with the flames crackling merrily in the fireplace. It evoked a feeling of warmth and company that soothed the spirit. Two wondered if they found uniquely happy trees to cut or infused the emotion afterwards.

Incense hazed the air from unseen burners but the smoke couldn’t hide the glint of the many nick-nacks that adorned the wall.

They ranged from swords and other weapons to gems and mechanical devices. She could taste the essence of some through the room’s oppressive mix of essence and colours. it was a mark of the item’s power or the care that had gone into them, leaving a mark she could taste after the years relegated to Daisy’s display.

A part of her wished to rush and be done with this meeting, but she kept her steps slow and steady. It was better to cater to her hosts’ eccentricities.

Two stopped behind a large indulgent couch, it stood directly in front of the fire and cast a deep shadow across the room. In it, a woman lounged.

What details could made out from her silhouette were her dark skin and darker hair. The latter was locked into a long flowing bundle, piling across her shoulders and onto the floor where it melted into the shadow.

“Good evening Daisy.” The occasion called for calm so that was what she put in her voice.

“To what do I owe the pleasure my dear Two.” Her voice was a deep smooth thing, that despite her annoyance she had to admit was beautiful.

“I have completed my mission and come to report.”

“Oh,” They turned their head, showing the edge of their red lips and a hint of a smile. “Is that so then be seated dear. I’m sure you have much to share.” She gestured to one of the nearby couches and Two complied.

She slipped onto the couch gently and the following breath told her it was perfumed with something floral and mild. She spared a thought for her dirty and sewer-scented garments. This, she realized was likely one of the reasons Terry didn’t like her much.

She relaxed into the seat and stifled a satisfied sigh, it was a very good couch. Terry would live.

Daisy was smiling, absentmindedly stirring a glass of something alcoholic in one hand. Their long serpentine tail coiled slowly over a thick carpet. Firelight flickered over the dark and pale brown scales that covered it top and bottom respectively. While the harsh shadows added a layer of threat to the mass of sinuous muscle.

Two was conscious of her own mottled green scaling and thankful for the heavy hood and cloak that cast them in shadow. Daisy’s smile quirked, and Two knew Daisy knew despite her lack of expression.

In snakes as in most lines, what bestial traits a child inherited, were up to chance, though all exhibited some. Tails were a point of pride among serpents as were most such dramatic features. They were rare too, of her four siblings only one had had a tail.

“So.” Daisy dragged.

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Two pondered how to express the travesty that had been today. They had maimed and likely killed a few people in their escape from the market, in broad daylight. Had then proceeded to murder a guard in the tunnels, due to Two’s poor decision to check on their noble captive. Furthermore Butch had managed to instill such loathing in the girl Two was sure she’d hold a grudge after the eventual random. How to encapsulate all that? “It was… ‘a’ success.”

Daisy stilled, and conveyed through their locked gaze that she already knew something of their ‘success.’. A few moments passed, punctuated by the fire’s crackle.

Daisy’s shoulders began shaking, then her chest before she burst into laughter. Any semblance of gravitas melted under the sheer force of her amusement. Two relaxed deeper into her couch and closed her eyes.

It seemed Dasiy was done playing for now. Why the woman insisted on doing this every time she visited Two couldn’t fathom.

“You have a gift for understatement my dear.” Two glanced at her ‘boss.’ They were half fallen out the chair, held aloft solely by the bed off coils around the chair.

“I try” she replied.

Daisy fell into another storm of laughter.

It took time for Daisy to come down. Time Two spent trying to ignore how comfortable this all was. When she wanted to be Daisy was a person you could so easily sink in. There was warmth in her smiling eyes. The display was so perfect that even now Two was uncertain of its sincerity, even while the other woman’s emotions suffused her senses.

Either way, it made Two’s efforts to calm Deadra in the sewer look childish and blunt.

Daisy stood or rather slithered up. Leaving her seat and placing her class on the central table. They circled her coming to a stop behind her while their coil wrapped around the chair’s legs. A gentle hand-tossed her hair.

“You have completed your mission. With complications but ones that were foreseeable given Butch’s involvement. But accomplished nonetheless I’m proud Two, very proud.”

They pulled her into a hug, wrapping their arms around her seated form. There was much to say about cultivators, one of which was that supernatural strength enabled very firm hugs.

Two took a shallow breath. Pride and love filled the air, thick and heavy enough to render the incense moot. Like, warn soup when shuttered inside on a rainy day. It was the scent that followed dotting parents as they trailed behind their stumbling children.

Two had often wondered what life would be like if the serpent had been her mother. Would her earliest memories have been of this instead of cold nights on harsh streets? Would her sister still be with her? The thought pained her.

It hurt more because she knew what came next.

“Can’t you stay? I know you are tired of the work, you want a little bit of normalcy in your life and I support that. It’s why we’ll get you that artifact so you can be without your curse. But do you really want to go it alone? Things might be better now but there is little love for our kind and you’ve had a hard enough life already.”

There it was. Her stomach churned and she was surprised and furious to find she’d preserved enough hope for it to curdle into disappointment.

The disappointment did do her some good, however, suddenly the warm hands around her shoulders felt cold and the gentle aromas insipid.

She placed a thin smile on her face. She sighed. “I know Daisy and I’ll always be thankful for your support but I need a clean break. Butch killed a guard in the sewer we threw him in the water. I’m tired of having to help with things like that and I know that as long as I’m around there be reasons to help. One little thing I could do.”

Daisy sighed deeply.” Are you tired of me my dear? Do you hate me for the things I’ve made you do?”

“No Daisy I just don’t think I can be around you for the time being. Maybe in the future, when I’ve settled down into something stable.” Two meant the words and just a bit she hated herself for it.

With a sigh, Daisy released her and returned to her chair and drink. “Well get your artifact after the girl is sold. It’s part of the exchange and you can expect it sometime tomorrow.”

Tension left Two, it had been unlikely but Daisy tended to surprise.

Daisy’s lip quirked. “You worried I’d skimp, why I should be offended!”

“Worry isn’t easily convinced by reason. I apologise if I offended.”

“No worries Two, you’re moving into a new phase of your life. Tell me about your plans I remember something about a bakery.”

Two sent her a flat look. “That was years ago.”

“True, true, but you’ve always been awfully stubborn.”

Two found herself relaxing into the conversation. It had not been easy, taking weeks of effort in hopes that someone would maybe show up. But she was at the finishing line.

“While I do have a plan I’ve been too busy the last weeks for it to be anything concrete. Though I can tell you it involves one of the arts.”

“Truly a child of the sculpted city. I look forward to what you make.”

“Thank you Daisy, but I’d like to go today has been tiring.”

Daisy to a long breath then pitched back as if struck. “Too true my dear. You could also do with a wash dear, you smell of a nest of something foul died in your robe.” Daisy waved her off and Two rose and almost rolled her eyes at Daisy's feigned nausea. Still she was eager to rest and be clean.

“Oh before I forget. I’m sure you noticed the girl is a noble.”

Two nodded.

“Well, they aren’t from the usual minor family, but rather a great clan.”

Two found herself beset by a sudden chill. “One of the big five?” she desperately hoped she misheard.

Amusment twinkled in Daisy’s eyes. “I belove that’s the right count though I could be mistaken.”

Two simply stared.

“For rather obvious reasons we’ll be leaving the city tomorrow your welcome to join us. Though you’re free to stay if you’d like. That’s all” Daisy returned to savoring her drink.

Like a woman possessed by a particularly depressed ghost, Two slid out of the room.