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As repayment, I bought him dinner before procuring my groceries. I returned to my office, and thank gods, my timing couldn’t have been more perfect, as Charya already arrived in…

Who let her in.

“I knew I memorized the right code!” Charya laughed from my seat. She spun around and around in it before she slapped her feet on the desk to stop the spinning.

“So, what’re you up to?”

I remained at the doorway. It took every fiber of my being to not tackle her for intruding on my sacred space. The den of my genius and discovery of the unknown—and she had the audacity to just let herself in?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that made quite a bit of sense, but I refused to entertain the thought for longer than I needed to.

“Well,” I said and made my way to the guest chair, loathe as I was to lose this battle of wills. However, a shrewd leader such as I knew: in order to win the war, you must give some concessions here and there before you can burn your emblem of victory into the soil of your enemy. The enemy, of course, is more than just soil. A few cities are there. Maybe even a landmark of historical significance that serves as a beacon of hope. A most mighty one, which—

“Wellllllll, what?” Charya said and flicked my forehead. I winced and threw my foot up to kick myself away from the desk, which startled Charya enough for her to fall over. “Hey!”

“Aha!” I ran out of my seat and nabbed my old chair. Once I righted it, I threw myself in to lord my triumph over her. After a few moments, she sat up and dragged herself over to the guest chair.

“Wow, not even helping a lady up,” Charya stuck her tongue out, eyes narrowed. “How rude~! Are you sure you’re cut out to be the big mighty Erna hero?”

“First of all, that’s my name and not a title,” I said and leaned back in my seat, “Second of all, it’s been my birthright—in fact, I would say my reputation as a hero for all has preceded, and will outlive whatever your lifespan turns out to be.”

“You’re kind of a—“

“Though this is no reason to feel insecure!” Did she say something? I believed she did, but I wasn’t finished, so she’d have to be quiet and wait her turn. “Everyone has a goal they can work towards, one of their own making. No soul is bound by the silly notion of fate or by the whims of those who try to position themselves as inherently stronger than you. The wonderful thing about a soul is that it is as powerful as any other. We are all even, all strong, all capable of taking our lives in whatever directions we please! And so…”

I paused deliberately, which Charya took as a cue to laugh in my face for precisely half a minute straight.

“Ooooohhhhh, gods, you’re so much worse than I thought! Congrats, you’re really outdoing all the rancid, old-people impressions I had of you.” Once she finished with her fit, she began to babble as usual. Saying such rude things, truly, I struggled to understand the thoughts rattling in her head, each sudden outburst a popped corn in a kettle machine.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I leaned closer to her. “I told nothing but the truth.”

“Maybe in the olden days where people bartered instead of having money,” she said, and punctuated her words with a roll of her eyes, “but not anymore. You know none of us signed up for any reason other than money? I mean, everyone except me, I could just go back to my old job if I wanted to, but that’d be super stuffy boring. Stiiiiiill, the point I’m trying to make here is you’re being so totally outdated!”

“Believe me,” I said, “I’m aware of the value of money.”

“Are you aware of the value of ‘work or die’ this oh so fair world pushes on us?” She scoffed and kicked the legs of my seat. I kicked back, naturally.

“It’s nothing so harsh anymore,” I said. If anything, it felt as if she picked at me just to find flaws with my words. “If you don’t like what you do, you’re always free to find another path. That is what I’m trying to illustrate for you. No one controls your fate, no one chooses where you live and die.”

“And I’m telling you it’s not super simple, idiot~!” Charya snapped and plunked her hands on my desk before she rested her head on them. She drummed her feet against my knees, making me wary of how close we were, but I refused to back down. “Health? Rent? You do realize how bad things are, right? Especially on Maia. Millions of people are gonna lose homes they can baaaaarely afford as is, working jobs they can lose at any moment! I used to work in civil law, defending companies that could and would pull out ev~ery dirty trick in the book to screw people over. Is bad luck something you can just motivate yourself out of? When you’re unfairly thrown away and treated as garbage left to starve in the streets? I dunno about you, but it’s pretty hard to eat appreciation for breakfast!”

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She stood up and stared me down. “Listen, I have no personal stake in this! I really don’t care. I find all the technicalities boooring, like super lame. But if there’s anything that pisses me off, it’s seeing some fossil try and tell me how the world works when I’m a super genius who knows it all!” She tapped her head, flashing a smile…I believed. No, something changed about her, didn’t it?

But what?

“So stop treating me like I don’t know better. I know. If anything, you need to get out of your smelly office and see how the world works, because you don’t. Know. Anything~!”

Charya winked. “’Course, that’s just my opinion!”

I wanted nothing more than to formulate an argument. To show the folly of her incorrect assumptions—but the most troubling part was I didn’t know where to start. It felt as if every word left a pinprick against my skin, injected numbness into each nerve. My hands curled into fists without me having realized, and I pulled myself out of my seat. The present. Where did the present hide? What did I know of it, if anything?

Ugh. She loomed over me, just as everyone else did.

Quick, think, I had to think. My knowledge on current civil law felt too flabby to provide a decent counterargument. My information on local real estate faltered too—and I did assume there would be…no, I had a feeling…but surely I knew about the current health care—urgh…

Whatever Charya glimpsed from my expression must had encouraged her, as her grin stretched further. “Good! My business is done here. Consider this my resignation.”

She turned and skipped to the door. Before another thought passed, I ran from my seat to grab her arm.

“Wait! I’m not…I haven’t say anything yet,” I said.

Charya yanked her arm back, though not hard enough to break my grip. “Wow! I thought I was cute, but this is an entirely new level of irresistible.”

“I never commented on your looks,” I corrected her, “but I did—give me a moment—”

This time, she pulled hard enough for me to let go. “Whatever! Still leaving, you’re boring and predictable, and we’re done here anyways. Maia’s kinda going under, and I’m not swimming with it unlike you.”

Gah, I didn’t know what I wanted to say, and with her attitude, I didn’t know whether I wished to argue with her, push her out the door, or ask her what she even blabbered about.

That last option sounded utterly foolish, no matter what I told myself to say. But—why, why didn’t I listen to all of Sunny’s lectures on following current events!? I cursed the ignorance of my past self.

Ignorance…

Something of that nature, in a minuscule amount, may had been present in my current self. I despised making concessions when she held her own share of incorrectness, but if I put honesty in my words, then maybe she’d finally be satisfied.

“Fine!” I yelled, and she stopped at the door. “I admit, I hardly know everything. My knowledge pertains to the arcane, not always to the mundane mortal existence. However! And that word carries the weight of my statement—I am willing to adapt, and to learn.”

I put my hand to my heart to make my promise. “A leader is only as good as the strength of heart they’re able to cultivate in their teammates. Letting you walk away without any argument?”

Charya frowned as her hand hovered over the doorknob.

“I wouldn’t forgive myself. And so, from you…I would like to learn. How the world works through your view.”

I prostrated, a pet begging for treats from its owner, though I struggled to hide my humiliation over the endeavor compared to what any canine or feline may had felt. Did I make the right choice? Surely I couldn’t be as clueless as implied. Still, the only way I could find out was by listening to her, no matter the end result.

Charya had yet to say anything.

“I meant as an exchange,” I said. “This job can offer you a lot, and we both have a lot to learn about each other outside of that. Your form and tactics still need work. And, as you can likely guess, my modern historical knowledge may…also need some refining—“

“Pfft—“

Charya’s face slipped into a grin. Her grin quickly morphed into another laughing fit, one she clutched her stomach through.

Once she finished, she looked at me with tear filled eyes and a big grin. “Oh my gods, it wasn’t that serious! You really thought I felt sad and under-appreciated because you’re old? No!”

Huh.

Huh.

“I really was just bored,” she said as she wiped her tears away, “but I also wanted to go out with a bang! No hard feelings. Besides, after my dramatic speech, I totally predicted you’d hand me some olive branch out of desire-duty or whatever. Buuuuuut!”

She didn’t bother waiting—she grabbed my right hand and shook it. “De~al! It’ll probably be less boring watching you stumble around over whatever crap dummy job I get next. But remember! You can’t outsmart me, I’m basically a genius.”

With a wink and a twirl, she opened the door and flung herself out. “See ya real soon!”

“Hey, wait!”

Slam!

In an instant, the room turned from chaos to normality.

A groan escaped my lips, and I buried my head in my hands. What was wrong with that woman!? I thought I’d met every eccentric under the sun—and those words hold a lot of weight when you regularly converse with immortals—but she managed to prove me wrong. I dreaded the possibility her record could be smashed by another.

Hmph. With Charya’s attitude, perhaps letting her leave like she wanted would had been the best outcome. The impulse crossed my mind several times, but something stopped me. Uncertainty? Out of care for my citizen? She bragged about her skill, which all too many incapable people were prone to do, so perhaps I was simply curious to see whether she could live up to her boasts.

I held doubts. But I needed to know. And so, she stayed. If we truly had something to teach each other, then I’d find out later if I made the right choice.

I settled back down at my desk. Too much prep work was at hand, too little time, but a new determination sparked in my soul to get my case organized before Bella and Sunny returned. Otherwise, I knew well it would slip from my fingers altogether. I needed to be the one to solve this, otherwise…

My thoughts drifted to Kaleo.

I kicked my other leg to force myself into focus mode. He remained vital to this case, but it was for the safety of the empire as a whole. That was all. Nothing more. Nothing else.