“Do you find yourself typically drawn to a full moon more if there are additional non-full moons also visible in the sky?” Balbanda prodded. All but one of her machines were done doing whatever it was they were meant to do with his blood. The only one still working was shifting around a semi-frozen slushie of inky blood.

“I don’t think so? I mean, it depends on how many moons there are. If there are more than three, I’d probably be interested in looking at the sky, and if only one of those moons was full, it would be the obvious focal point.” Cael was giving his best effort, but it was getting harder to care as the hours went on.

The bear-man slammed the door open and thundered into the room, an angelic figure in tow that reminded him a bit of Mercy. Namely, they wore the colors of the Church of Vera.

“Oh, thank Vera.” As much as he’d appreciated the food she’d supplied an hour ago, he absolutely did not want to answer any more of Balbanda’s inane questions.

“Yes, indeed. Thank Vera.” The new angel replied with a quizzical tilt of his head.

“Did you kill that boy?” The bear snarled. It was pretty clear which point he was stuck on. If anything, it seemed that their time apart had only increased the bear's aggression.

“Oh, wonderful. No need to introduce us, let’s just get right into it.” Cael answered in a flat tone. “I didn’t kill him. He’s me.”

“He’s not lying.” The angel shrugged. “Listen, I’m actually very busy today. If you called me here to watch you accuse someone of murder, then please hurry it up.”

“He claims that form is his alone and there is no other who had it before.” The bear proclaimed.

“Yes? A lot of practiced changelings can do that.” The angel pointed out.

“That’s what they want you to think. But fine.” The bear acquiesced, though by the look on his fuzzy face, Cael could tell he hadn’t dropped the subject. He’d been stuck in Balbanda’s absurd interrogation long enough to begin tracking that. “That isn’t even the real reason I brought you here.”

“Half-truth.” The angel commented, and Cael had to smother a giggle at the bear’s indignant growl.

“He broke our suppressed dungeon. I’m sure you understand how expensive those are to upkeep.”

“If I did, it wasn’t on purpose, but I don’t actually think it was me anyway,” Cael replied defensively.

The angel gave him a look that Cael took to mean that he should elaborate, so he did. “From what I can tell, the soul governing the dungeon made the decision to destroy the dungeon core on its own.”

“The test dungeon had a soul?” Balbanda asked. Cae looked at her warily, certain by now that she had a dozen follow-up questions prepared.

“I think so,” he said.

“And it decided to break its own core? Why?” Even the Representative of Vera seemed to be interested now.

“Ah. Well, um, that was, uh, probably to ehhh-escape?”

Oddly enough, Balbanda and Vera’s Representative looked like they’d already expected this. In Cael’s opinion, the bear was the only one there with a reasonable reaction, which was something along the lines of: “WHAAAT?!” Give or take a few questionable expletives.

“Okay, well I don’t think she would hurt anyone.”

“Did you talk to it?” The bear made a face that Cael couldn’t quite read, but he was sure it was bad.

“Her.” Balbanda corrected, though Cael wasn’t sure if she was being respectful or just bewildered that Ava had a gender.

“Of course, I talked to her. I think I would have died otherwise. Even with her help, well, I'm pretty sure you saw how I turned out.” Cael frowned at the memory of the Swarm beast.

“Do you think she did that to you on purpose?” The bear asked as if he knew something Cael didn’t. He was really pissing Cael off.

“I think you’re talking way too much for someone who doesn’t know what you're talking about.” Cael snapped at him.

“And you do?” The bear growled.

“It’s almost as if I’m the one being asked to share what I know here,” Cael answered sarcastically.

‘There’s no need to make enemies on my behalf.’ Ava Interjected.

‘Well, I think it’s adorable how quick he was to defend you.’

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You aren’t being asked. This is an interrogation.” The bear corrected.

Cael crossed his arms and looked at the Representative of Vera for his thoughts. The angel shook his head in a way that clearly said this wasn’t an interrogation, but it would be too much trouble to argue this point.

The changeling rolled his eyes pointedly, though the movement felt unnatural and he wasn’t sure how visible it was. After all, his eyes were as solid black as his blood.

“If it’s an interrogation, then what exactly do you want to know? So far you’ve just been wasting everyone’s time.”

“Truth,” Balbanda muttered across the table. The actual Representative of Vera shot her a look, but it was more amused than anything else.

“Do you know where she is?” The bear settled on after a bit.

Cael paused to think. He couldn’t exactly say what he did know, so he would have to lie in a way that might be able to squeak past the Representative of Vera. With no knowledge of how the angel’s Skill worked, he could only do his best.

“Not particularly. I could obviously tell you what plane of existence she’s in, but you’d be out of luck if you told me to bring you to her.”

This caught the angel’s attention. He leveled Cael with a calculating stare. A second passed and the angel blinked, having come to an unknown conclusion.

“Truth.” he decided after a tense pause.

“I believe I have heard enough to make my own decision.” A new voice called from the doorway. A woman with piercing silver eyes and raven hair— Literally. She had long, black feathers in place of hair— strode in.

“Lady Lar.” The Representative of Vera inclined his head respectfully, and the two Mereo staff members gave her an odd salute of sorts, their right hands tapping the opposite waist and making a fist before rising to their chins and dropping to the side again.

‘It’s the movements of a sword salute made without a sword.’ Ava pointed out in response to Cael’s confusion.

The changeling hurried to mimic the salute. She truly did seem to demand respect with her presence.

‘She’s dangerous.’ Tar hissed in his mind.

‘Powerful.’ Ava agreed.

She reminded him of Arx. An aura of inconceivable power, but in the end, he was confident he would be safe as long as she stood there. In a strange way, it was also similar to the security he felt when Tar was close.

“Vigil, Cael, come with me. I will try to resolve this quickly since your presence seems so distracting for my instructors.” She leveled both of the instructors with a meaningful look. Cael flinched. He’d yet to tell anyone his name. Even Balbanda, for how many questions she’d asked, hadn't quite remembered that detail. She’d known anyway.

Balbanda froze. “Shit, we have classes soon.”

The bear twitched and waved a hand, suddenly in a standard Mereo uniform. He rushed out of the room, giving Cael one last glare before he turned the corner and was gone.

The spector didn’t move, only looking at Lady Lar with a pained expression.

Lady Lar just sighed. “You may finish your current experiment, but please do so as quickly as possible. You have students waiting.”

Balbanda nodded dutifully and Lady Lar turned to leave.

Cael and the angel, apparently Vigil, followed behind her. The moment he stepped into the hall, the whole world lurched around him.

It wasn’t the magic of teleportation. He didn’t feel nauseous, just deeply unsettled.

Cael took in the new setting.

“This is a garden.” He blurted. Yikes. The truth poison had worn off at some point while he’d been unconscious, but he still found himself speaking without intending to sometimes. Anyway, it was a garden, so it wasn’t as if he was saying something outrageous or wrong.

Lady Lar hadn’t struck him as the nature-enjoying type, but he didn’t really know her anyway, so it made sense that he’d be wrong to assume.

“Why did you lie?” Lady Lar asked.

Cael growled uneasily, which… he hadn’t known he could do. He eyed her warily.

She glanced at him in amusement before returning her stern look to the angel. She hadn’t been talking to Cael.

‘Oh, yeah. That wasn’t suspicious at all.’ Tar remarked sarcastically.

“I do not lie.” The angel crossed his arms and returned Lady Lar’s stern look.

“Really? Because I know our changeling friend here lied,” She jabbed a finger in Cael’s direction, “and I know if I caught that, then you did too.”

Cael turned his eyes away from hers, feeling almost guilty for lying. He didn’t like having to lie, but he wouldn’t endanger Ava so easily.

“I decided his statement was more true than false.” Vigil’s right wing flapped once, rustling the leaves of the nearby plants. “Do you disagree with my decision?” He challenged her.

“I do.” Her eyes felt distinctly predatory to Cael, “but I understand.”

“Do you understand?” Vigil’s eyes flickered to Cael and Lady Lar did the same for a brief moment. In the end, the two shared a knowing look.

“Perhaps better than you do.” She responded.

‘We’re missing something.’ Ava decided.

‘They’re having a conversation we don’t have the context to understand.’ Tar agreed.

Lady Lar turned toward him and laughed. Right. Cael had loud thoughts.

“We have courses that can help with that. I suggest you take them.” She offered.

“Does that mean I’m accepted?” Cael asked hopefully. Despite the fact one of the teachers already didn’t like him, Cael was not ready to try his hand at being admitted to another school.

The other two shared another knowing look, and the angel nodded.

Vigil stood and turned to leave. “Thank you for having me, Lar. Unfortunately, it seems I am even more busy suddenly. I hope you’ll understand if I take my leave now.”

“Of course.” She waved her hand dismissively and Vigil disappeared.

She smiled at Cael. “And yes. You are accepted. You broke our dungeon. I can’t let you go so soon.”

‘Shit, I lost the bet.’ Tar sighed.