No wasting time.

As soon as I pushed open the door and walked out of the kitchen, I walked over to Sera, who had already taken her place at the Mediator’s table once more. She had her back to me but I didn’t feel the need to tap her on the shoulder to draw her attention since I expected she knew I was there already.

“Hey,” I said. “Could we talk?”

Without turning to me, Sera motioned to the seat beside her, the one Jamie had been sitting in just a few minutes before. I glanced at the rest of the Mediators, though none of them seemed to care about my presence at all. They simply stared forward or closed their eyes with neutral expressions on their faces, now that there wasn’t an Otherworlder to perform for.

“Alone?” I asked.

That caused Sera to finally turn around, raising a perfectly arched eyebrow at me.

“You sure about that?” she asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I don’t want these assholes to listen in.”

“Us assholes have ears too, you know,” Tenna said, opening his eyes to glare at me for a second, before closing them again and slipping back into his meditative posture.

“We can move if you want,” Sera said, ignoring Tenna. “Your parents are still in the kitchen?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I asked them to stay put.”

“Would you like them to join us?” Sera asked.

“Why? Afraid to be alone with me?” I asked. I had meant for my question to be a joke, but my tired and humourless voice didn’t help convey that in the slightest.

“I’m not,” Sera said. “But you should be. A manipulator’s main goal should always be to isolate their target from anyone they might feel close with. Make them feel like they can only rely on you. Rule number one in the manipulator’s handbook.”

“Oh,” I said, uncertain on how I should be reacting to the random exposition. “Well, I don’t think it applies here. If you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to take you away from your friends, not the other way around.”

Tenna scoffed, proving that he was pretty terrible at meditating, but Sera ignored him again and sighed.

“I assume you don’t want your parents listening in on whatever it is you want to say?”

“There is a reason that I asked them to stay behind in the kitchen.”

Sera frowned but nodded as she stood up from the table.

“We can go to the corner of the room,” she said.

“Not somewhere else?” I asked.

“The rental rooms here don’t have very thick walls,” Sera said. “The Otherworlder would be able to hear us.”

I was about to point out that there was a door behind the bar that led to the tavernkeeper’s house, but I doubted that Sera didn’t already know that.

I shrugged. If she wanted us to stay in a more public space, I wasn’t going to deny her.

“Sure,” I said.

Sera stared at me for a few seconds, as if doubting the fact that I’d agreed to her suggestion, but she eventually chose a corner of the room to walk towards.

“Just make sure to keep your voice down,” she said. “You are terrible at whispering.”

“I’m not that bad,” I said, somehow feeling a little bit offended at the comment.

“You are,” she replied, with the ghost of a smile on her face. I wasn’t sure if I’d imagined it or not.

Neither of us said anything else as we walked to the furthest table away. It wasn’t a long walk, but the brief lull in conversation easily translated to a long stretch of silence after we sat down. Sera looked towards me, but seemed determined to not make any eye contact whatsoever, choosing to stare somewhere above my shoulder instead.

“So you have a guidebook on how to manipulate people?”

Why did I choose that as my opener? Sera glanced at me with a slightly raised eyebrow, as if silently asking me the same question.

“It’s more of a manifesto,” Sera said.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

With how flat her voice was, I had no idea whether she was joking or not. I tried to crack a smile, just to test her reaction, but her face remained unsmiling and blank.

I felt my expression fall back to one that probably matched hers. An awkward air washed over us, but as Sera broke eye contact once more, looking at that same spot above my shoulder, I decided that there wasn’t really a point in trying to stall any more.

“I still don’t know if you’re manipulating me,” I said. “But if you are, you don’t need to do it anymore.”

Sera stared at me, her expression betraying no emotion whatsoever.

“What brought this on?” she asked.

I shrugged.

“I confronted Jamie directly about the affection points,” I said. “And you were right. It went about as well as it could’ve. Thought I might just do the same thing with you. I know it’s not the same thing, since you’ve been pretty upfront and obvious about how well you can manipulate people, but I thought we could just show all our cards right now. Or at least I could show you mine.”

Sera stared at me, still expressionless. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that if you are manipulating me, I’m letting you know that there isn’t a point anymore,” I said. “I know that, for how terrible you Mediators are, you’re probably only this manipulative because it’s the only way you feel like you can achieve your goal of controlling Jamie and making sure he doesn’t go on a rampage. The only reason why you would want to manipulate me is if you feel like I could somehow ruin that. If I take away that reason, you have no reason to be anything but honest with me.”

Sera frowned and crossed her arms.

“So you’re saying you’ll cooperate with us,” she said.

I nodded. “Just tell me what you want and I’ll do it. No need to trick me into doing anything or to think a certain way. Just give me an order and I’ll follow it.”

“Why?” Sera asked. “I thought the idea of killing the Otherworlder upset you.”

I sighed, and slumped back in my seat, upset that Sera decided to mention the very thought I was trying to avoid.

“Yeah. It still does, if I’m being honest, but it’s not like I was ever going to try and stop you from doing it. I’m just a girl, and you’re Mediators. I can’t outscheme you, so I’m not even going to try. I’d rather just tag along and try to make sure Jamie’s death is as pleasant as it can be. I guess dying because your dream gets fulfilled isn’t the worst way to go, anyways.”

“It’s still death,” Sera said bluntly. “And that isn’t our only option. We could still kill him by denying him his dream.”

I frowned, but shook my head. “Kid just wants to be an adventurer, like in the stories he’s heard from his own world. I don’t see any reason why you would deny him that.”

Sera sighed and shook her head back at me. “What if we decide that it would be better for the Otherworlder if you were to stay here in Plainswood? Would you agree to that?”

“Yeah,” I said, with a shrug. “Honestly, it might not even be up to me, anyways. I made Jamie pretty upset, so it’s possible that he won’t want me around anymore.”

“No,” Sera said, with a sigh. “He’ll want you around, even if it’s painful for him to see you.”

“Really?” I asked, a little sceptical.

“He likes you,” Sera said, as if that clarified anything. “That’s just how it works.”

I waited for more of an explanation, but none came.

“Can’t say I understand,” I admitted. “I’ve never had a crush on anyone before.”

“Well, that’s just how it is,” Sera said, frowning before forcing her face back into a neutral expression. “Is that all you wanted from me, Lena?”

“That was most of it,” I said. “So is it a yes?”

“I’m not the Leader of the group anymore, Lena,” Sera reminded me. “I’m just a Grunt now. My opinion won’t have any effect on your role in this mission.”

“That’s true,” I said. “But I’d like your opinion on it anyways.”

Sera narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms defensively.

“And why is that?” she asked.

I leaned forward, setting my elbows on the table and glaring at her, staring deep into her eyes. Instantly, Sera backed away and diverted her eyes from mine, with the slightest blush glowing on her cheeks.

“Because of that,” I said. “I gave you a reason not to manipulate me anymore, but you’re still acting like you’re infatuated with me. I hate being kept in the dark, Sera. Is the reason I gave not enough or do you actually have a crush on me?”

The switch in her expression was so quick that it actually startled me. The remnants of a blush remained on her face, but once again, she stared blankly at me, looking just over my shoulder and refusing to make eye contact with me.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Lena.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What do you want me to say?” Sera asked back. “What answer would make you happy?”

“I just want to know the truth,” I said. “I hate being so unsure of whether my thoughts are actually my own. I want that to stop.”

“And if I told you that I really am attracted to you, you would believe it?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe.”

Sera stared at the same spot for a few more seconds before she shifted her gaze towards me.

“I am not attracted to you,” she said, her voice monotone. “It was all an act to gain your trust. I apologise for my conduct. It won’t happen again. I will suggest to the new leader that, if you choose to stay as a part of the operation, you should not be put into any situations where you need to interact directly with me.”

Before I could even think to respond, Sera pushed herself back and got out of her seat.

“You won’t have to talk to me ever again,” she said, already turning around and walking away. “I’m sorry for making you feel uncomfortable.”

Sera walked away as quickly as she could without it seeming like she was rushing to get away from me. Once she got to the Mediator’s table, she wordlessly pulled out a chair and sat down, closing her eyes and adopting the same meditative stance that Tenna was in. Laush glanced between her and me, but quickly averted her eyes once she noticed I was watching.

I stared at Sera for a few more seconds, until I finally processed what had just happened.

I let out a long sigh.

I knew Sera was a good actor, so it was surprising to see such an obvious lie coming from her mouth. While I supposed she could have intentionally given a terrible performance to mislead me into thinking that she was lying when she was actually telling the truth, I didn’t see a point in thinking in circles like this. I still didn’t trust her completely, so there wasn’t much of a point to coming to a concrete conclusion.

But my gut feeling told me that she was lying.

I sighed again.

“Damn, I thought you were supposed to be a better liar than that,” I said under my breath.

Across the room, Sera twitched and grimaced, almost as if she had heard me. Wait. Had she actually heard me?

The angry blush that was spreading across her cheeks seemed to suggest that she had.

Was I really that terrible at whispering?