One Without A Pair
> ”I can afford to wait.” ~Kristel Irista
Somehow, someway, Frein managed to return to his hidden objective after distracting Kristel and Jam by coaxing Sam into assisting him. Now he owed the Sentient M.O.B.I.L.E. some stories, but it was worth it.
With one swift motion, Frein pulled Katherine out of view, shoved his hands inside her shorts, and simply ripped her panties apart before anyone knew what was happening. All he got was a yelp and a pair of desperate hands gripping his shoulders. She tried to control her surprise as he hastily pulled apart the soft fabric. It lacked the excitement and subtlety that the Lady probably expected, but they were running out of time.
Jam’s experiments were simply too distracting. And Frein wasn’t one to give up and make excuses.
He stored Katherine’s torn underwear, warm and moist though it was, in his pocket. If he opened his Spatiera now, it would attract attention, and he didn’t want to be accused of theft or to put his girlfriend in an awkward position by explaining himself. Avoiding it altogether was the wiser idea. Plus, keeping it in his pocket added a bit of risk to the whole ordeal, giving him some semblance of unity with Katherine’s vulnerable situation.
“This feels weird,” Katherine whispered, feeling around her buttocks. She made sure her long coat was buttoned on properly. “I’ve never done this before. Lucky I’m wearing shorts.”
“I’ll be more gentle next time,” Frein said. “You won’t even feel it.”
“Are you two ready?” Kristel asked, not even hiding her suspicions anymore now. “Can both of you control yourselves until we’re done with dinner? I get it, you two are stuck with me because Frill’s somewhere else. I appreciate the courtesy, but I won’t stick around after dinner. You can eat each other’s faces then, if you’re still hungry.”
“Bit harsh, Princess,” Frein replied. “But alright. I’m starving, actually.”
“Same here,” said Katherine, smiling to mask her embarrassment.
“We don’t have to go anywhere,” Jaylene intervened. “Our cafeteria’s topnotch, you know. Also, Gumi said she’ll need to clean up. She can join us in about half an hour.”
“I’m alright with that,” Kristel followed. “I’m pretty hungry, too.”
With all in agreement, the group took a lift to the fourth floor of the building. If he had known they weren’t going to leave the R.A.M. Department, he would’ve taken his time on Katherine’s request. He argued with himself. For some reason, the defeat was obviously waiting for him as soon as he stepped out of the M.E.S.S.
There was the lift to consider as well. It wasn’t an elevator, not a cube nor a rectangular machinery. It was a round platform on a wide tube at the very end of the building. It was entirely operated by meiyal, but Frein could see some hints of mechanisms and analog fail safes in case some disruptions occurred during operation. The exterior wall of the tube was replaced with glass, allowing the passengers to admire the edge of the grand carrier overlooking the seas below and the skies above.
The fourth floor greeted them with a lot of people. The entire floor was a cafeteria after all, and they were still at the height of the evening. There was an entire buffet with all sorts of food, following recipes from the entire Forimeyn Continent. Frein could see the distinct labels for Iristan and Vyndivalian cuisine. He was thankful for those, otherwise, he couldn’t tell the difference.
Their arrival brought with it an entire scene. Eyes and murmurs quickly turned towards them. Frein assumed it was because of the three women that appeared together with him, but he slowly realized how most of the onlookers were staring at his exact direction instead.
“We’re old news,” Jam said, pushing him forward. “You’re more interesting.”
Frein started to hear some of the weirdest comments from these people. Granted, being the center of attention wasn’t a rarity for him even before he became the Visitor, the words some of these people said were simply invasive. They all didn’t know how acute his hearing was with Siffera.
“Do you think he’ll give me some of his hair?”
“Are those clothes from his locale? Maybe we can snip some later?”
“Make sure you let the kitchen staff separate whatever he’s eating on. His leftovers, too!”
“He’s pretty hot, you think the Princess has dibs on him? I’d do him if he asks me. Maybe we can join them?”
“Maybe it’s Lady Katherine. I would’ve given everything up just to get a night with her.”
“Or maybe…oh…”
The last line had taken Frein for a loop and his unwarranted jealousy shot through the roof. He worked his arm around Katherine and pulled her intimately close to his chest. Temptation tested him, urging him to deeply kiss the Lady in front of all these people just to proclaim war to anyone who would dare lay a finger on her. But he restrained himself, not wanting to put her in such an embarrassing position, especially when she was feeling a bit vulnerable at the moment.
Instead, Frein turned to the direction of whoever was whispering malicious intent towards Katherine. It was an entire table of young adults who all immediately turned their heads down.
“He can hear us? Is he for real?”
“Creeps,” he whispered. “They work in this department or what?”
“Must be guests from the academy,” Jaylene commented, her Siffera just as acute as his.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but don’t get into trouble,” Kristel said, crossing her arms while urging for the group to get a move on.
“Ignore them, Frein.” Katherine pushed him onwards to the start of the queue of the Irista Nation buffet. “They’re just a bunch of growing kids who can’t control their libido. They’ll fantasize about just anyone.”
“We’re technically hardly older than they are,” Frein argued. “In fact they look just as young as you, Kristel.”
“Keep me out of this,” said the Princess. “I just want to eat.” She passed along some trays and began walking around the buffet.
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“True,” Katherine continued as if Kristel didn’t speak at all. “But they’re not in a relationship like we are. I know you’re the jealous type, but you don’t have to pick a fight with everyone who dares to turn my way.”
“They wanted to do nasty things with you!” Frein took a healthy section of a something that looked like a pasta of some sort; akin to lasagna but with sausage layers intersecting with the pasta noodles.
“And yet you didn’t bat an eye to the girls over there who’re all over you,” Katherine argued as she took two helpings of pulled barbecue chicken. She pointed at some mashed potatoes, waiting for him to nod before taking large serving.
“Because I don’t have any plans on entertaining something that stupid.” Frein followed where she pointed next, then took two bowls of soup. He didn’t bother getting their name, though he noticed a bunch of seafood in it. “Get me some pork.”
“And what about Eli’s case?” Katherine asked while he took a large bowl of pork braised in tomato mixed with some dumpling-looking ingredient.
“Eli’s different,” Frein said with finality. They both passed on the dessert isle, but agreed to just return to it later. Instead, he waited for Katherine to put two glasses of fruit punch on his tray. “She’s the only one I’ll accept. No one else gets to take my place.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Katherine looked for Jam, who gave them the signal to skip the cashier, beckoning them over on a free table. Frein noticed a servant providing the felintine with her own meal.
“I’m amazed,” Kristel said while she took the seat beside Jam, knowing full well that Katherine and Frein would sit together. “I’ve heard stories, but this is the first time I ever saw a couple argue over something so trivial while maintaining complete coordination.”
“Hmm?” Katherine mused as she prepared the trays on the table, arranging them so that Frein could easily access his share from the portions she took.
“What?” Frein did the same, passing the bowl of soup in such a practiced way that he managed to slip it underneath Katherine’s moving arms without spilling its contents.
Within seconds, their meals were so neatly organized that it looked like a family sharing a main course.
Kristel pointed at both of them. “You two. You were arguing over something nasty you heard from whoever. Your Sifferas are just too amazing sometimes.”
The two gestured their disagreement. Frein shook his head while Katherine waved both her hands in denial.
“We weren’t arguing,” they said at the same time. And, in the same synchronized fashion, produced their reusable chopsticks from their respective Spatieras.
Kristel’s response to that was to sigh as hard as she could.
Jaylene rubbed the Princess’s back. “There, there. You’ll find someone to be all warm and fuzzy with soon.” She eyed their utensils. “What are those?”
Frein and the rest spent the next hour enjoying dinner and sharing stories, most of which were from his perspective. Gumi had joined them somewhere in that timeframe. In fact, more and more people were listening in. He didn’t care about them, as long as they didn’t say anything creepy about him or his companions. His overbearing Siffera was enough to dissuade anyone who even had the inkling to try.
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Kristel stared at her M.O.B.I.L.E.
While the vibrant purple of the evening has been skewed by the more prominent red of the Darkmoon, the warm tone it provided helped the Princess stave away the cold. She was alone now, perched like a bird on the railings of the veranda outside her room.
She concentrated her Siffera to her balance. She was getting more used to it—using the Art to enhance something more than just her physical strength. She still struggled doing it on the fly, where she couldn’t rely on her brainpower or instincts to do it subconsciously like Katherine or Frein. But the Visitor insisted that she kept practicing whenever time allowed.
And so she did.
As expected, Frill wasn’t back yet. In fact, Kristel contemplated on finding her and Xiv, not exactly to spy, but to make sure no funny business was happening. In the end, she decided against it. Allowing those two free reign would be the highest form of respect and display of trust she could provide those two right now.
Kristel sighed as she scrolled down her contact list. There wasn’t much on it, at least as far as a casual contact or friend was concerned. Most of them were either officials or advisors or department heads that weren’t interesting enough to talk to, given that they were decades older than she was and probably had families of their own to take care of.
Princess Kristel realized she didn’t have a lot of friends.
Her screen displayed Liona’s name. She had contemplated numerous times whether to delete this contact or not. She couldn’t ask Frill about it. It was too insensitive. In fact, a big reason why she never really looked at her contacts that often was because it was filled with names of people that were already gone.
Most of the Cross Irista had died during the Battle of the Vanguard. Save for herself and Lor, only the elders were left in that group. Maybe Venry was still alive, but she wasn’t hopeful. She sighed again. With more than half of the members gone, she wondered if there was a point in keeping the group. That was one more thing to add on the pile of problems to consider.
Kristel passed her sister’s name on the list and didn’t even bother looking at it. The way they parted ways wasn’t the best of farewells and considering the time, she would probably be asleep.
Lastly, her screen scrolled to Venry’s name. His was the last on her list, and she stared at it for the longest time.
Venry was her childhood friend, just like Flimeth. When they were younger, Frill and Liona were too busy taking extracurricular lessons to prepare for their role as Kristel’s retainer. Katherine would also be somewhere else training. It was mostly Flimeth and Venry who kept her company. Then they grew up and had to go their separate ways for their own ambitions, making it more difficult to spend time together.
Kristel had given Venry’s M.O.B.I.L.E. a call at least once a day since the time they found promising proof that he survived the Battle of the Vanguard. Every time, it failed to connect. Tonight, she tried again, but she did so in a different way.
A M.O.B.I.L.E. call utilized the meiyal transmission of the device to connect to a central hub, the High Palace Network in this case. It would then proceed to boost the transmission, throwing it along strategically placed relay towers, until it reached the intended recipient. This ensured a quality signal within the entire nation and could even potentially reach Vyndival Kingdom if they had agreed to build those towers. No luck on that last part, as far as she knew.
This complex signal boosting and throwing wouldn’t work in the Nightmare Lands, primarily because no relay tower would survive such dense and hostile meiyal. Potentially, there could be a way not to rely on those towers, but they were not meiyal efficient at all and were never successful according to the researcher’s reports. It was too deadly to keep testing.
In conclusion, it wouldn’t matter whether the transmission was sent through land, air, or sea, the Nightmare would be all over it and rip it apart instantly.
And while the High Palace Network had an ironclad privacy policy, the fact that Kristel suspected a rat from the inside made her hesitant to make calls in the first place.
So in an attempt to bypass both the issue with the Nightmare Lands and the potential security breach in the High Palace Network, Kristel tried something different this time around. She used her own meiyal system to serve as the connecting hub, utilizing her own Milled meiyal to feed the M.O.B.I.L.E. and transmit the signal directly to Venry’s. She had done this before, many times in fact, but the most recent occasion was when she gathered the Cross Irista for the Battle of the Vanguard.
It was just a whim. In fact, now that she analyzed it, this method wouldn’t help with the Nightmare Lands issue. If it could, the Order of the Void wouldn’t have had to decommission Jaylene’s M.O.B.I.L.E.s.
But at this point, Kristel was committed. She didn’t expect for Venry’s M.O.B.I.L.E. to ring anyway, much less for him to pick it up.
The Princess waited for a while, making sure the transmission was sent correctly—a task usually handled by the High Palace Network. The process gave her unnecessary anticipation. Even though she handled the transmission, it was still the M.O.B.I.L.E. sending the signal. Meaning, she couldn’t tell where it was going. She wished it was possible to tell, at least this way she could deduce whether Venry was still alive.
Long minutes passed and the M.O.B.I.L.E. didn’t budge at all. By herself, it would take her an hour and a lot of meiyal to cover the entire Irista Nation. By her estimates, ten minutes would be enough to reach back to Minaveil Province and cover the entire portion of The Great Sea Dividyr within the safe zone.
Kristel sighed once more, deactivating the call.
“I wonder if Maffelyne is free tonight.” She decided against entertaining it. “Guess I’ll just sleep.”
At least this was one thing she looked forward to; a long and peaceful sleep, finally. It was better this way anyway.
Tomorrow, they would have to Jump.
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