> Point of View: Esther [New Character]
Esther couldn't help but be utterly baffled as she stared at the page in her fingers. Somehow, Rybrus and his fresh recruit managed to not only single handedly take on over thirty trained men, they then - SOMEHOW - convinced the rest of the bandit group to march with them for over a week and turn themselves in to the guards. During her many years of working as the Host's liaison to the parliament she's seen many a weird report, but this one probably took the cake.
She'd have loved nothing else than to get in touch with the wandering remembrancer, but alas her schedule was occupied with a multitude of urgent tasks already. Most urgent of which was one of the king's advisors, pacing in her office and visibly fuming. "With all due respect Liaison Esther, it is my belief that the Hunters have overstepped their bounds yet again." He levered an accusatory finger as he spoke. "Your duty as Hunters is to contend with the supernatural and leave mundane matters to us! And yet, this is the fourth case this month alone where your subordinates have interfered with the lawful process!"
The clearly annoyed advisor slammed his hands on her desk, though the clear attempt at intimidation did nothing but lower her already low opinion of him. "I will be bringing this up during the parliament's next session!"
"Oh, by all means please~" Her voice was as sweet as honey as she replied. "-Do tell the parliament how a dutiful pair of citizens stepped up and single handedly ended a bandit threat to settlements in the area. Without any losses to your precious and well trained staff or civilian causalities."
She allowed her smile to blossom as wide as it could. "And not only that, but also bring most of said troublemakers to the guards in the next town over for proper lawful processing. Truly, their audacity knows no bounds!" She couldn't help herself but tut at the end of her sentence, though her verbal opponent did not take the bait.
"We'll see if your spin is good enough." He borderline growled the words out, before storming out of her office. The whole tantrum served well enough as a distraction to amuse her - after all, there's only so long one can tolerate the mundane repetition of day-to-day business before getting sick of it all. A moment later, her pen was dancing across a form.
"Rybrus you old sack of misery..." she quietly mused "... just whom did you discover." A moment later the paper was filled in - a request to forward any and all Veda entries pertaining to Rybrus or his recruit directly to Esther.
"This should spice up the monotony. Don't disappoint me you two." With a smirk on her lips, she walked out the doors of her office and tasked the first runner that passed her by with delivering the form to the appropriate office.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
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It appeared that the news of this stunt got by fast, as evident by how she was pulled into a private meeting as soon as she got back to the Lodge. "Esther! I'm so, so happy you're here." Spoke the man across from her. To call him a man was an understatement, more like a pile of muscles and bad attitude pretending to have a brain. She couldn't help herself but snort at his obvious mocking tone.
"You're only talking to me because you want something. What is it?" She knew her tone was quite standoffish, but frankly she's been deflecting questions and accusations about the duo's stunt all day already. The last thing she wanted was to have to do more of the same on her own home turf.
"Aww, you know me so well." Radim - the current representative of the Protector's order within the Lodge grinned. "I want all the info on that upcoming recruit you have. Who are they, where did they come from? Everything. We didn't issue any possible rescue missions in the area recently, so something's extremely unusual is happening."
"Well, then it appears we have nothing to talk about." Esther retorted right back with the smuggest grin she could muster. "After all, it wouldn't do to break protocol, simply wait for tonight's meeting, I will present the information there."
"Ah come oon Es! You owe me at least something for treating you to nice dinner last time!"
She couldn't help but roll her eyes. "First off, you were trying to court me, and did so quite horribly might I add. Second off, I don't 'owe' you anything." She shook her head with clear disdain.
"Ouch, but okay. Look, anything, seriously. Please?" Esther wasn't used to seeing him act so deferent and curious, but after a moment's hesitation she relented.
"Fine. I'll tell you just a little bit. The reason you can't find the records for where she came from? Simple, she's a rescue, just not a recent one." She could see his forehead scrunch as his brain worked overtime to discover the exact meaning behind her words.
"Not recent... That could be... Morana And Fen? They succeeded at rescuing their objective, though... one died in the process, and the other shortly after... We wrote it off as a loss... huh." He rubbed the side off his head. If anyone asked Esther, she'd happily tell them that that's because the man's brain barely functioned. Though at least today it seemed to be operating at peak efficiency.
"That's correct, I'll be leaving now." She nodded at him and received a simple thumbs up in response. However, before even closing the door, she was approached by yet another visitor, this time a representative of the Persecutors.
"Esther, got a bit of time? I could use some aid with analyzing a situation that came up."
A realization dawned on Esther as yet another person tried to monopolize her time within seconds of closing the door behind her.
'Please tell me at least someone will wait for the meeting.' Was all Esther could think before being dragged off to yet another room to provide yet another representative with information they would all gain if they all just waited.
'This is gonna be a long evening' All Esther could do was sigh as she prepared herself for yet another unproductive interview.