For a second, he froze. Then Randidly twisted around with a wry smile on his face and looked over at Tatiana, who was leaning against the wall of the ballroom in deep shadow. Really a testament to my current mental state that I didn’t notice her immediately… These social events really dull my edge.

Tatiana’s hand was on her hip and she batted her eyes at him playfully as she pushed herself up off the wall. He wondered how long she had waited for him to emerge. “So is it true? Has a party put you on your back foot?”

Grinning, Randidly replied. “Well I had heard from some children there is a rumor about a secret birthday cake being made for me… I need to slip out privately before I rejected such a generous gift publically.”

Tatiana snorted. “Believe me, you were very clear as to your request for no birthday singing or cake. And no pinatas which I thought was quite a shame... But no, I regret to inform any listening individuals with any genuine birthday cheer that there is no ‘birthday’ cake… just a celebratory iced dessert to enjoy under the starlight. A tragedy.”

When Randidly leveled a heavy glance at Tatiana, she burst out in full laughter. After a few seconds of enjoying herself, she sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, maybe I’ve just glad that this whole thing is over too. Normally I would… well, to business. Unfortunately, I really do need to stop you from leaving.”

Grimacing, Randidly turned around so his back was facing Tatiana. Only then did he let some of the sadness from the Earth’s fearful reaction to him show on his face. “Can’t it wait? I’m… extremely tired.”

“The image thing was hard, yea?” Tatiana said quietly. Both understood that she wasn’t talking about producing his three images before the Earth. It was what his ‘image’ became in the Earth’s eyes.

After ten seconds of silence, Tatiana sighed. “Normally I would make an excuse for you, but I figured you would be interested in this as well; I noticed your eyes going to Theodora Greyman during the talks about the joint effort. As she behaved quite normally. She requested a meeting to talk about the Earth’s future before she departs. Which means tonight.”

Randidly pressed his eyes closed. Looks like these feet won’t have to put on a pair of shoes yet… Then he turned around. “Any clue what she wants? Or why she changed her mind so abruptly?”

“Normally I would say the well-designed challenges impressed her… but I don’t think either of us believes that Theodora Greyman quite gets how the System works yet.” Tatiana twisted her mouth. “This is just a hunch but… I suspect she wants to partner up with you for something. Something to do with Zone 1’s… proclivity for the forbidden.”

Randidly quirked his eyebrow up. “What are you even implying…?”

“That she is going to ask you something that seems very stupid to you.” Tatiana shrugged. “Obviously, you can handle that. I just want you to be prepared to hear whatever crazy suggestion that she’s going to throw out there. Although she is a little out of her depth at the moment, Theodora Greyman is not an unintelligent woman. You shouldn’t underestimate her.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Randidly said with a frown. Then he twisted around. “Is she…?”

“In the rearmost room of the event space, on the right. The one that was converted into a library.” Tatiana almost seemed amused. “I suppose her subordinates must have explored the place quite well because she definitely didn’t leave the ballroom once she arrived. But she found the swankiest room we prepared for tonight for this talk. I have no doubt you will find her drinking scotch.”

After releasing another sigh, Randidly checked in on himself. His time sitting passively during the planning meeting had helped him recover his focus, but he was now more worried about his mental state. In the past four days, he had found Yystrix’s tomb, briefly given into physical violence and dueled Helen, had a talk with Lucretia about loss, obtained his new Fatepiece and was brought to the past to see Yystrix once more, and now was placed center stage to experience the way that the Earth’s opinion about Randidly Ghosthound was changing.

Still. One more meeting shouldn’t change anything. Even if Theodora Greyman was going to ask him something very, very dumb.

Randidly’s eyes snapped open. “Alright. Thanks for the warning.”

True to Tatiana’s guess, Randidly found Theodora Greyman holding a crystal glass filled with an amber liquid in hand, perusing the shelves of books in the ornate room. He supposed that when Tatiana referred to the room as ‘classy’ she was talking about the heavy leather furniture and the expensive golden globe sitting next to the pool table.

Because to him, it seemed heavy. Weirdly, it reminded Randidly of Ezekiel, which then made him wonder what gift his dad had given him that triggered the second Fatepiece. Plus, I’ll have to go through everyone’s gifts eventually… Tatiana would be disgusted if I asked her to sort them by value before I check them out myself…

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Randidly’s thoughts were thankfully interrupted as Theodora Greyman turned around. She gave Randidly a small smile. “Thank you for meeting me on such short notice, Mr. Ghosthound. I hope you don’t mind it being in private; I believe there are some things that neither of us wishes to be overheard by others.”

Instantly, Randidly was wary. Not perhaps that Theodora Greyman was about to reveal some terrible secret, but rather that she was truly going to say something very foolish to him. The only reasonable explanation that Randidly could find for why she would believe he would care about the things she said was that she was the one to obtain Yystrix’s memories. But somehow, Randidly didn’t believe that was the case.

He folded his arms and released an even breath. “It’s late, Miss Greyman. Let’s get down to business. Especially because I am under the impression that we are not friends.”

That finally got Theodora’s glaze of amicability to fade away. She looked at him with sharp eyes. “...fine then, let’s not bother with pleasantries. I’m here because I believe that we can help each other. No one else might have asked, but you can guarantee they were wondering about it the entire time: during all this cooperation to defeat the threat to the Earth, where will Randidly Ghosthound be? I wonder how inconvenient a question that is for you, someone who claims to have the Earth’s best interests at heart.”

Randidly had thought it strange that no one brought up how he would be involved, but that had been part of the fearful gazes that people were casting his ways. So he didn’t dwell on it for very long. It made him uncomfortable. “There is something in the test that I will be required to handle. Most of my attention will be spent preparing for that.”

“Something that you don’t even bother asking for any help dealing with?” Theodora asked skeptically. She rotated her glass, causing the amber liquid within to circle the rim.

Randidly couldn’t suppress an amused smile as he pictured the people of Earth standing up against someone as powerful as Lady Iellaya or Octavius Shrike. “If any of you had enough power to help me, I would be only too happy to ask for assistance. But you don’t.”

“...of course,” Theodora Greyman said sourly. It was clear from her expression that she didn’t believe him, but that didn’t matter much. After taking another sip of her drink, Theodora finally arrived at her sale’s pitch. “But let me assure you of this; not everyone will believe in this ephemeral threat that you talk about-”

“Honestly, I believe that the very act me fighting the foe I’m talking about will be very far from ephemeral,” Randidly interjected.

The light in Theodora’s eyes grew even more intense. “The point being that we can help each other out. Zone 1 is planning on establishing a sort of… symposium on research on the System. By stating that you are participating in the symposium, I believe a lot of the political pressure that you are under-”

Randidly snorted.

“-will ease. You will be visibly part of those trying to better the world.” Theodora set down her drink on the desk with a loud click. “All we ask in exchange is some help imbuing an image into Mjolnir. Which, considering your expertise in images-”

This time, Randidly couldn’t help but laugh. “You want to try and make that pile of experimental Raid Bosses capable of producing images? Even setting aside the difficulty in doing so, don’t you worry that they will use those images to rebel against the constraints you use to bind them? How much do you think they hate you?”

By this point, Theodora’s expression was stormy. “Don’t underestimate the favor that I am offering to do for you. Although you are powerful now, you’ve already stated that you might be away from Earth. While you are gone, can the Order Ducis withstand these same pressures? This is not just about you, Randidly Ghosthound.”

Which indeed was true. But Randidly sincerely doubted whether Zone 1 could provide the benefit that Theodora was offering. “Theodora, the Symposium already exists. The people of Earth have been gathering and sharing information on the System since the beginning. I’ve been attempting to educate everyone I can this entire time. What you are offering… is something that already exists. I don’t need you to protect my organizations. So I want to ask again… why would I be tempted by your deal?”

And honestly, helping Mjolnir develop an image would be… dangerous. Randidly frowned as he did some quick mental calculations. He suspected that doing so would be almost impossible, but not quite entirely impossible. And Randidly already had some experience with massed amounts of images due to Reign of the Eidolon Crucible. He was quite a bit more powerful than the average person of Kharon, by hundreds of times.

But the spirit of all those people joined together to tear them down… it was enough to exhaust him. If hundreds of high-Level Raid Bosses were given the ability to freely create their own images… let alone just rebelling against the government of Zone 1, likely the whole of Earth would be put into danger.

After a short pause, Theodora spoke in a cold tone. “If this research was going to be going on, I had assumed you would want to be a part of it. But if you believe that we in Zone 1 have nothing to teach you…”

Releasing a small shiver while still thinking about Mjolnir with images, Randidly shook his head firmly. “I’m not interested. But thank you for the offer. If there’s nothing else, you can leave.”

“Not all threats can be resolved with power, Randidly Ghosthound!” Theodora hissed.

Randidly gave her a level look. “Theodora Greyman… do you think I would have bothered with this farce of a party if that wasn’t the case…? And let me say this: for all that you seem to look down on power… I’ll have it to fall back on if everything else begins to fracture. What about you, Theodora Greyman? What will remain when your tiny castle begins to fall to pieces…?”

After a smoldering glare, Theodora left without bothering to answer.