"What shall I tell Mataku?" Mithra suddenly asks, causing everybody's attention to shift onto him.

"That we have completed his plan. He can sit back and prepare himself for the time when I'm going to end him." Turning to the bandaged man, I state with a determined expression. Korenga smiles at my words.

"What about the being on the moon?" He counters with this question, causing me to pause for a moment.

If Chaos-Juzual is really the Primordial Crawling Chaos that terrorized the Dominion over twenty years ago, then she should have far more mass than I do - unless she has been starving since then. Even now, I have no idea how to deal with another Crawling Chaos but to swallow them.

"You will not be able to defeat that one just yet." As if having read my mind, he announces in an entirely neutral tone. "Not on the moon."

Fully turning around to regard him, I close my eyes at the futility to see through his bandages. Then I look at Flann, whose expression is just as inscrutable despite openly showing her face. Do I believe him here and strike a bargain with the devil known as Mataku to fight Chaos-Juzual?

"What does your master want in return?" I ask with a sideways glance at Korenga, whose eyebrows furrow at my hint of willingness to work with the Primordial Terror.

"There is nothing left on this world for him to desire." Mithra replies, and I imagine hearing him sigh. "He does not even wish for you to stand aside as he performs his final banquet. He looks forward to you opposing him at the time."

Turning his head to look at the maids still pointing their weapons and claws at him, he then regards his daughter. She doesn't show even a hint of emotion at meeting her father, whom she hasn't seen in a long time, and only returns the gaze. Her eyes are fixated on where his should be under the bandages.

"So nothing at all?" I can't believe Mataku would do anything out of goodwill. But then again, he's doing this out of pure selfishness; after all, if he doesn't stop Chaos-Juzual, he can't do his thing.

"Meet him on the dark side of the moon before the end of things." With these ominous words, Mithra disappears in his teleportation vortex, leaving the maids keeping their eyes on him peeved at his easy escape.

"You heard Her Majesty. Get into position around the city." Rewera claps her hands and relays my orders. They didn't move all this time because the element of danger that the former court magician posed remained in the room. Now that he's gone, they immediately spring into action and leave one after the other while bowing to me. I see them off with a reassuring smile until the maid leader herself stops before me. "I wish You good fortune, Chaos-sama."

"I hope you won't need to use the shield array." I look up at her and state, not letting my unease show. I've decided to trust Tokomaha to stop the moon, but what happens then?

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Be careful." Senka's voice suddenly echoes in my mind even though she isn't in the room. I've grown used to her speaking to me like this though, so I don't let it trip me up while I see off Rewera. "Mataku might be working with the Chaos on the moon."

"I assume you think that either of them is spying on us, so you aren't saying this out loud." I reply in my mind as I walk across the room toward Flann. "Can you help me determine something then?"

"Go." Without wasting time, Senka asks me to pose my question.

"I want to find out whether or not Flann is working with either Chaos-Juzual or Mataku. How should I go about doing that?"

One would think that as Mithra's daughter, she's subjected to the same rules that he is in terms of who to obey. But she seems to have some degree of free will - or it's all an act. Finding out what is the case is the point of my question.

"That's hard. She's expressionless, has no idiosyncrasies, and generally shows no emotions. And I doubt there would be anything physical for me to detect either way even if I had the best equipment."

"Aren't there any questions one could ask which could determine whether or not she's under their command?" It's obvious that Flann's poker face won't give anything away.

"If such a question existed, I would have asked it already." Senka replies, and I can picture her shrugging even though she has opted not to show her astral body in my vision.

"Then, I can only let my judgment guide me, I guess." Suppressing the urge to shrug as well, I turn to Flann. She returns my gaze without blinking, waiting for me to address her. "Is your father watching?"

"Yes." She replies with what I'd rather assume is the truth. If she had answered in the negative, I would have had reason to doubt her. "Shall I block him out?"

"You can do that?" I catch myself staring at her before quickly averting my doubtlessly excited gaze. A smacking sound in my mind tells me that Senka just brought a palm to her forehead. "Shush."

"Shall I do it?" She asks, not showing on her face what she thinks about my apparent interest. Having her act as if she didn't notice only makes me more embarrassed than if she had laughed out loud.

"Can you also block the Chaos on the moon? What about the big one?" The latter isn't important right now, but that could give me insight into whether or not she's telling the truth.

"I already have. She will no longer take command of me. As for the big one, I have no connection to it." With a simple nod, Flann states in a matter of fact tone. But I glean a hint of pride in her deadpan expression and determine that this must be the truth then. Unlike her father, she must be free of their influence. Maybe only her youth is what allowed Chaos-Juzual to find an opening. Then again, I have no idea how old she is.

"Alright. I'll believe you." I pet the blonde girl's hair, who looks surprised at the sudden caress. "Then there's one more thing I need to know."

Flann doesn't shy back from my touch and looks up into my eyes, wordlessly waiting for me to pose my question.

"Can you transport people without a circle?" Asking in a lowered voice so that only she can hear me, I ask her this all-important question.

"As long as you are with me." In any other situation, this would have sounded somewhat romantic, but I immediately understand what she means. Her ability to teleport is limited by needing a Crawling Chaos to accompany her.

"That's good enough." With these words, I separate from Flann and turn to Korenga next. "Alright, how long can you hold your breath?"