Ray

The party died down after Faret's declaration. A slew of official statements that meant little were spoken, but Ray knew that the nobility was too afraid to act at the moment. Not to mention, the Dean hadn't spoken to him since Faret has dropped the announcement. Ray couldn't figure out if he was angry about the incident, or just didn't want to talk.

"So, how'd the party go?" the Rebel Queen asked, suddenly appearing beside Ray.

Ray looked up at her, startled by her sudden presence. "I am sure you know already, your majesty. The Xnarthan have imposed even more taxes. Will this interrupt our plans regarding the situation?" Ray asked.

"Not presently, but we'll still need confirmation from your Aunt that she will agree to supply herbs to you under the table. The rebellion does not have enough to keep Afriel fed for even a single day." the Rebel Queen said, a contemplative expression on her face.

"I will talk to her once she's free." Ray said, looking towards the bar, where Aunty Ariana was talking with a group of nobles. The number of people approaching her had been a little high today, making Ray wonder if something had occurred. Though that could be normal, she was the host after all.

"Tell her I want to talk to her, it is time we met." the Rebel Queen said, disappearing from beside Ray in a whirlpool of purple mana. Wait, he'd forgotten to tell her about the weird Baroness' warning. Well, he'd just tell her later.

"I think we should leave." the Dean said, appearing next to Ray.

"Ok." Ray said, looking at the Academy Dean that had followed his brother in. Did the two of them make up or something?

"Do take care of yourself brother, the times are-" the Academy Dean began before the College Dean cut him off, "No,"

An angry breath left the Academy Dean as he hissed, "Do you have to be so obstinate? I am trying to warn you-" Ray felt his surroundings change as they landed back in the bakery, not even letting the Academy Dean finish his sentence.

"The Academy Dean seemed to be warning us about something." Ray said, looking at the Dean.

"I have no need of his warnings, now, could you please help with the compiling? Here, this potion should help." the Dean said, a flask of purple liquid appearing in his hand.

"What potion is that?" Ray asked.

"The potion that increases telepathic abilities that I promised. I am sure it will speed things up a bit when you try to get information." the Dean said, shocking Ray. Did he know? How had he found out?

"The Fae stone, it communicates telepathically, yes?" the Dean asked as he presented the potion to Ray again.

"Oh, yes." Ray said, gulping it down as the Dean watched. The potion just settled in his stomach for a while, making it seem like Ray had eaten a stone or something. Ray's throat began pulsing, trying to puke it back out, but the potion wouldn't move. And then it began.

A wave of bubbles rose up towards Ray’s brain through his neck as he felt them enter into his brain, filling it with fog as the potion did its thing. An image of two huge objects circling each other, one a mass of red and blue gases, the other a collection of yellow powder, appeared.

A purplish-green streak of lightning passed between the two and then flashed into Ray's vision. Ray's mind expanded, as if the space within had expanded to accommodate more. The purplish green lightning emerged again, flashing through the space, before finally dimming and disappearing.

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Ray gradually felt the rest of the world come into focus as he looked at it with new eyes. Not just physically, but mentally. Ray couldn't feel anything off the Dean, but he could feel snippets off the people outside.

Not anything close to what he got during the battle from the Xnarthan, but he did get a general idea of what the other person was feeling. In a way, the empathic feeling was similar to how humans communicated through body language.

Ray took a deep breath and said, "Ok, let's do it.". The Dean nodded, teleporting them away. Wait, he hadn’t talked to Anita yet, he had to warn her about Faret…he’d just do it later.

Ariana

Ariana shook her head as the guests left. Trevor had of course found a reason to not be here, something about some random army base that wasn't even in his area detecting something.

The party had actually gone better than she had expected it too, Faret's declaration aside, she hadn't been accused, assassinated or poisoned once. The Xnarthan must be fuming, they loved it when their enemies dropped dead in public.

"Are you sure about this, Mom?" Anita asked, speaking from behind her.

"Yes, sweetie, you've worked hard on the deals, and you were going to inherit it one day anyway. The day just came a lot sooner." Ariana said, turning towards her.

"But the entire herb business? Are you sure it isn't too much? The business is supposed to be booming now…" Anita asked.

"Yes, because you put the effort in and got us all those deals. Not to mention, I can blame the company suddenly losing money on your bad administration. After all, we can't exactly report our sales to the rebellion." Ariana said.

"Didn't Faret already give you that excuse?" Ariana asked, folding her hands.

"I didn't quite expect him to make such a foolish move, that's for sure." Ariana said, making a couple of chairs appear.

"The move isn't foolish." a gruff voice said, emerging from one of the hallways. Anita frowned, did he have to disagree with her at even the simplest things?

"Do tell me how. How is it that stopping trade and destroying one of the Empire's pillars is a bad decision?" Ariana asked, turning towards her husband with irritation.

Trevor shook his head, the disapproving look on his face again.

"The Empire can survive without Alchemy, and it's not like Alchemists can't use beast materials. The Xnarthan are just restricting herbs. Ninety percent of high Tier Alchemy uses beast materials." Trevor said, acting knowledgeable as he looked around for a seat. Ariana wasn't going to give him this one.

"I am the continent's main trader of herbs, Trevor, I know how many herbs are used and why. Afreial's economy will die in a week if Alchemy is stopped. The cough's that run through the populace this season? Alchemy solves it. The wounds that need healing? Alchemy.

The supply of invisibility potions, strength potions, and other things required for so many industries to operate? Alchemy. The Empire has been spoiled by the presence of Alchemists, you don't realize what you have anymore. "

"Well, we'll just have to see. I just hope that you aren't going to do anything foolish, like making deals with the rebellion." Trevor said, trying to stare her down. Oh, he'd heard it, had he?

"I won't do anything foolish, that I can assure you." Ariana said, snarkily.

"Ariana," Trevor said, awkwardly folding his hands as he tried to hold eye contact with her without bowing. "The matter affects me too. The Xnarthan won't just avoid me when they come for you, they'll kill me too."

"The rebellion won't spare me, either. Had you bothered to come to today's party, then I could have introduced you to the Rebel Queen. Perhaps then we could have made a decision together." Ariana replied, fuming.

Trevor paused, looking at her like he couldn't believe the words that had come out of her mouth. "Are you telling me that you invited the Rebel Queen to party with the Xnarthan?"

"Yes, and our good lieutenant was quick to harass her." Ariana said, shaking her head. A Tier 25 taking the chance to publically sexually harass someone was one of the most idiotic things she'd seen. And she'd seen some idiotic things.

"The Rebel Queen is cool, and pretty powerful too." Anita said, interrupting them.

"Wait, you've met her?" Trevor screamed, forcing Anita to cover her ears against the stat fueled howl. "Ariana, bedroom. Now."

Ariana sighed as she followed him. Trevor was angry at her again.

"What were you thinking?" he hissed.

"Anita's ok, in fact she's better off than she was before. Tier 13 now." Ariana said, rolling her eyes.

"And that's going to protect her when the Xnarthan decide to kill her? Did you not even think of calling me?" Trevor said, his anger apparent. Ariana didn't care.

"I wasn't here, Anita took the decision herself. And I think it's a good thing that she went…" Ariana said, trailing off as she realized something. Trevor would lose it if he knew that Anita had killed Xnarthan members, not to mention he was a General himself. Dads didn't need to know everything, right?