Mai took her leave and departed the room. We were uncertain as to Our Hero's true intent, but We respected her decision in this matter. We would have preferred, however, that she had chosen to inform Us beforehand. She had shown us the invitation to this event and its associated Quest, so We suspected her absence now was related. We looked to her companion, Ms.Patel, to see what she would do next.

Ms. Patel was glancing about the room, her eyes slightly wide and her lips pressed together in some form of determination. We witnessed Mai enabling the Follow the Leader skill earlier, and presumed her companion was experiencing the skill's effects. It was an appropriate choice for an event or challenge, with its supportive factor and lengthy duration – provided no other Focus-using skills were enabled, of course. Its use in combat encounters within a shorter time frame was also appropriate, as a general buff to allies' strengths alongside other skills. We wondered what abilities of Ms. Patel's Our Hero had meant to empower, or if she expected combat to occur? It was unclear, given her lack of skills and low initial level. Mai must have desired an enhancement to an attribute rather than a skill. We did not have enough context to be certain.

We were also uncertain why We are with Ms. Patel rather than Our Hero. Our general intent is to stay close to Our Hero in case she was in need of assistance, but with Mai's departure this intention was impeded. We inferred that Mai wished Us to remain near to Ms. Patel, though she did not articulate why. We would proceed in support of her unstated intent, and in faith of Our Hero's destiny. We lamented, again, the restriction We had placed upon telepathy at the outset. But the wisdom of that decision was equally apparent – We found that the desire to intrude occurred with great frequency.

And this was the crux of Our conundrum. How should We support Our Hero while preserving her choice and agency? At what point does 'support' become influence? It was a precarious path to tread – fortunately, Paths were a part of Our Dominion.

"I'll have a Syrah," Ms. Patel told the well dressed servant behind the tall table. Then she looked at Us. For approval? Acceptance? We inclined Our head in a gesture of agreement, and that seemed to satisfy her. "Two then," she informed the servant. They selected a bottle and poured a burgundy liquid into two glasses, and slid them toward Ms. Patel. Ms. Patel retrieved some paper currency and laid it on top of the table, collected her two glasses, smiled at Us and tilted her head toward the center of the room. We followed, and as We did Ms. Patel handed one of the glasses to Us.

While Ms. Patel was searching the room for something, We eyed the glass container with mild distaste. We may have miscalculated. Our prior interaction with food was not enjoyable. The initial experience held Our interest, but the follow-through was less desirable. Perhaps We could simply taste the liquid and put it back in the glass. Based on Mai's prior reaction, though, We should do so surreptitiously. Looking up, We noticed Ms. Patel seemed to have found what she was looking for, as she said "This way," and moved towards a small standing table at the side of the room that was currently unoccupied.

"Okay," she began, "we might as well see what we can learn before Mai gets back." She took a sip from her wine, nervously wetting her lips.

"We shall follow your lead," We acquiesced. We raised the glass to our lips as well, appreciating the deep aroma of some kind of fermented fruit, before setting it back down untasted.

Ms. Patel looked at Us, seemingly taken back by Our response, then her brow wrinkled in thought.

"How long have you known Mai, anyway?" she asked, turning to face Us directly for the first time tonight.

"We have had Our eye on her for some time, but We have only recently met," We admitted.

"Oh, was it for work?" Her eyebrows raised.

Yes," We concurred.

Ms. Patel seemed to be waiting for more. But when none was forthcoming, she prompted, "Are you some kind of recruiter then?"

"Something like that," We inwardly applauded Ms. Patel for supplying an appropriate professional relationship.

"Are you planning to pursue Mai now that she left Complyze?" She asked warily. Her concern was quite transparent.

"Sadly, that opportunity is no longer available. We find Ourselves at loose ends at present," We soothed. We did not wish to become an impediment to their burgeoning relationship. She was providing quite a beneficial momentum to Our Hero at this critical time.

"Oh," she replied, obviously trying not to sound too relieved. Then she looked toward Us with a new kind of appraisal. "Were you any good?"

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We smiled sharply back with narrowed eyes, which Ms. Patel responded to with a grin of her own.

"If this new company thing works out, we may need to recruit more people," she held out her glass.

"We are quite certain of that," We concurred, raising Our own in turn.

Clink.

✦ ✦ ✦

I sat next to Iter in a line of folding chairs, still holding my half-full wineglass in my lap. The presentation was surprisingly interesting, at least the technical parts. Some of it I was even familiar with from our prior project with IHS, but there were some newer applications and use cases for their hardware integrations I hadn't considered before. They even had some technical applications I hadn't seen at the university research labs, which were pretty out there. IHS engineers knew their stuff, at least.

I wasn't sure how much Iter followed, though he at least listened with polite interest to the speaker. He was a presence both calming and difficult. His mannerisms were regal and detached, as if he floated above it all. When Mai was around, he seemed to fade into the background. But sitting here, next to him, I felt myself constantly aware of my posture and movements compared to his apparently effortless composure. It was stressful, frankly. Are all Swiss like this? I concentrated on the presentations in an effort to put him out of my mind.

As soon as there was a break, I took my wine and made my way purposefully to the side tables where the IHS reps were standing. The two men hadn't seen me yet, and were in the middle of some idle conversation. I don't know whether it was the excitement of taking action, or a desire to show how capable I could be, but I was feeling energized. I saw Iter following elegantly out of the corner of my eye, but kept walking.

"Good evening gentlemen. How's the night going so far?" I opened, and the two of them turned our direction.

"Hello there," one of them began automatically, a toothy smile appearing brightly from behind a dark, curly beard. "Going great so far, how were the presentations? PleyAR doing some groundbreaking things, right?"

"Loved their story! Really cool to see what IHS has done for them." I purred.

"I'm Noni, by the way," the bearded man reached out to shake my hand.

"And Andy, " added the younger, but taller man, with a hair full of product. "What company are you with?"

"Bushra," I replied, shaking both hands in turn. "We're with Complyze. Thought we drop by and see how our friends at IHS are doing." Iter stood slightly back and to my right. He made no effort to approach or introduce himself, which seemed to throw the men off.

"Complyze?" The one named Andy raised his eyebrows at his partner. "That's funny, we were just talking about you folks." He smiled as if that made us friends.

"Oh really? Good things I hope?" I encouraged him.

"Of course, of course!" The other one, Noni, exchanged looks with his partner. "We heard our companies were getting pretty close."

"I've heard the same. Thought I'd come by to check it out myself." I smiled as brightly as I could.

"What do you do for Complyze?" Though his smile never dropped, I could see a little nervousness in his eyes when I mentioned my interest.

"I'm in Engineering. I worked with IHS recently on an integration we were doing," I saw a little easing in their expressions. Were they expecting something else? "Do you know Arnon Golokha or James Chiang?" I surprised myself with how easily I recalled a couple of names of the engineers I'd worked with on their team.

"I know Arn and James – smart guys, know their stuff."

"Sure do," I could practically see their body language loosen. "So I thought I'd come by and see what IHS was like. You know, since we're so close. What do you do?"

"We're both in Solutions Engineering. Why else would we be here on a Saturday night, amiright?" Andy grinned at Noni, who chuckled along.

I laughed appreciatively, "So true!" I decided to give a little information on my end, see what happened. "You know, there's been a bit of a shake up at Complyze."

"Really?" That garnered some alert attention. Andy practically leaned forward across the table.

"Yeah, a realignment of teams, focusing on new product lines." I continued, keeping a conspiratorial smile in place. It was strangely easy, this conversation. I was inwardly agape at my glibness – it was as if I could read their body language and expressions directly, and knew how they would react. It was electrifying. I might be good at this.

"Oh yeah?" Noni wasn't smiling anymore, but he licked his lips in anticipation.

"Seems like big moves for our company. Word is IHS and Complyze have a thing going." I pitched my voice quieter, prompting the men to lean in even more.

"We've heard something similar… " Noni glanced at Andy, and the younger man nodded his head.

"Was hoping to hear from some folks at IHS, given our companies'… special relationship." I couldn't believe how well this was going. I practically had to stop myself from winking at them like some espionage caricature. But whatever it was was working.

"Well," I swear, Noni actually looked from side to side like a snitch in a bad cop film. Is this really happening? "We hear that relationship is going to get closer real soon. Some of the guys were thinking it might go further." Andy was completely silent now, trying to watch both Noni and us at the same time.

"How much further?" I prodded.

"If what I heard holds up," Noni paused to peer at both of us, before continuing as quietly as could still be heard against the noisy background of the event, "acquisition."

My smile never left my lips, but I almost asked him to repeat himself as I couldn't believe I'd heard that correctly. Acquisition? Like, buying IHS? Or would IHS buy Complyze? That's way beyond what I expected. I was buzzing with how easily this was happening, and I turned to look at Iter standing slightly behind me. He was looking back at me with an approving smile of his own. I took a small sip of my nearly forgotten drink to hide my surprise, before I turned back to the table.

"That'd be quite the thing, wouldn't it?" I raised my eyebrows and replied noncommittally, keeping my smile fixed in place. They both smirked to each other as if it was a confirmation.

"So," Andy chimed in with an eager grin, "we were wondering what the Sales comp plan was like at Complyze?"

"Do you know how territories are assigned?" Noni added.