“That’s just a myth, right? Just a tale as to why our people are here?” Julaly asks, shocked.

“She’s not from these lands, that’s for sure. She is an entire ocean away; who else could she be, to reach over such a distance?” Ruluna retorts.

“If that’s the case, then aren’t they our enemy? Our ancestors were driven from their land,” Julaly points out the main potential issue.

“Maybe, but one thing is for sure: she is not hostile right now. Maybe they’ve changed, or the tale is wrong or exaggerated?”

“We should tread carefully; we don’t know what they want,” Julaly warns.

“I know… either way, we’ll need a better way to communicate,” Ruluna says.

She will have to prepare ways to explain her language to Alysara. If she really is from the homeland, then she should speak a similar language. The sounds may have drifted over the years, but the meanings should be somewhat recognizable at least.

After miming ‘goodbye’ and ‘three days’, Ruluna ends the communication, her poor mana reserves abused by the surprising tax of the telepathic link.

If it took that much mana just to send words, then how effective will spells be? Never mind the use of scapegoats and proxies; she is safe from anything we might do just by the distance alone.

Over the next three days, Ruluna prepares for the next meeting, noticing that Alysara does not spy on her during that time.

During the next meeting, Ruluna begins teaching Alysara basic words using picture cards, and occasionally charades. Alysara learns fast, not needing to be reminded; either she is taking notes or her memory is enhanced by a skill; not exactly a rare thing among librarians, scholars, scouts, and other professions of the information-related variety.

They have to take a three-day break between sessions for Ruluna to prepare more materials, but, after the fifth session, simple communications are possible and Ruluna has the chance to ask the question she’s been dying to have answered ever since this whole thing started.

“Why do you scry me, why not someone else?”

There is a short pause, presumably while Alysara formulates her reply.

“Not you, everybody. Learn... your people, Hostile? Friendly? Trade? Need to know. You high rank, good to see... structure?”

In other words, Alysara is studying her society and learning the ranking structure of her Order. It is technically espionage, even if understandable in her position, the fact remains that they know nothing of Alysara’s society. Although, if she is not just spying on Ruluna’s Order, then she might know secrets of other Orders; if Ruluna can get her to spill those secrets, this interaction will look very good in the eyes of the Headmasters… which would be nice, because Vulpun is already teetering on the idea of cutting off communications.

“What did you learn?” Ruluna asks in as ‘teacherly’ a tone as she can. Part of the lessons’ purpose is to simply talk, to improve mastery of the language, and Alysara sounds young, so maybe she is a little naive; hopefully, Alysara will say something that she doesn’t know is a secret.

“Many... Many... people structures, and many high people.” Ruluna digests that, then offers a correction; “I think you mean Orders and Nobility.”

Although ‘Nobility’ is an out-of-date name for the governors, it’s not exactly a wrong description of them.

“So tell me about these Orders, like, what do they specialize in?” Ruluna asks kindly.

Alysara is silent for a few moments before giving a somewhat vague answer.

“Fighting, Commerce, and Industry.”

Well, those are the three main archetypes of Orders: mercenaries, merchants, and craftsmen and laborers.

This goes on, along similar lines, until Ruluna is out of mana.

She’s a smart one, but that’s to be expected from someone who mastered [Sense Mana]

Alysara has avoided spilling any obvious secrets, which is smart since they can be traded for other things. She is not a naive little girl after all, but it was a long shot anyway. Regardless, that is information itself: Alysara is smart enough to recognize secrets even if she knows nothing about a society, a mark of a good scout and spy, and she saw through Ruluna’s attempts at trying to get such information.

It’s possible Alysara was trained since childhood; however, Ruluna is at a disadvantage. Again, Alysara knows about her society, but she doesn’t know anything about Alysara’s.

The next day Ruluna is determined to level the playing field somewhat.

“Tell me about your people,” Ruluna asks innocently.

Alysara is silent for a few moments, clearly thinking of what to divulge.

“We are craftsmen; we like making things... we can trade in time?” Alysara eventually offers.

Stolen novel; please report.

Trade? Over such distances? It’s impossible to sail a boat over the Leviathan-infested water; no ship is brave enough to venture out of sight of the coast, any further and one is at risk of being attacked by a powerful monster. However, the fact that Alysara suggested the idea of trade means they either have a way, or she doesn’t understand the hurdles of trading across the ocean.

Alysara is smart, but this might be an oversight in her judgment; Ruluna bets that Alysara’s people have a way to trade, and, if that’s the case, she should be worried because if they can do that, then they can invade.

“Perhaps. How are your people governed? Do you have a King?” Ruluna asks, choosing her words carefully.

“No king. Our Elders manage our... settlements.”

Ruluna did teach Alysara the words for city, village, town, and hamlet, so the fact she is being vague on the size means that it is a point that she wants to conceal; even the lack of information can be a form of information itself.

They have ‘Elders’, which can mean several things: it can mean that the oldest people are made governors, or it could indicate a more tribal thing, perhaps Alysara just doesn’t know the correct word to properly say what she means, or maybe she is being vague on purpose.

Ruluna asks many questions, trying to learn as much as she can; sometimes Alysara is vague, but more often, she is transparent on things. Anything related to the defense of their land Alysara is understandably vague on, simply saying that they don’t have to worry.

Their religion is centered around the Goddess of Beauty and Creativity, of which the few surviving records that Ruluna is aware of only say that the followers of Serlia, the evil, were zealot believers. This is worrying news; however, the way Alysara speaks indicates that she isn’t a zealous believer, so Ruluna presses for more detail.

“You seem rather distant in your... faith; do you have doubts?”

Alysara gives an amused chuckle. “No,” she says, “But we recently exiled a mad priestess who wanted to bring back some old times, the whole thing has left a sour taste in everybody’s mouth.”

“Old times? What’s so bad about that?” Ruluna asks, hoping for some good news.

“It was thousands of years ago, I don’t know the full details, but apparently some priestess took over and got rid of faith in the other two gods,” Alysara answers. “She did a lot of bad things and made a lot of bad choices.”

That sounds just like the origin tale. A lot can happen in the thousands of years since, so it’s a good thing religious oppression didn’t stick.

“Who are the other two gods?” Ruluna asks.

“Varath and Venaro.”

“Do you still worship them?” Ruluna hopes that they share belief in Venaro at least. She has never heard of Varath, though.

“We... recently rediscovered knowledge of them... not widespread.”

Oh, well, can’t have everything. The conversation ends soon after, Ruluna’s mana running out, at which point Ruluna notices her apprentice standing by the door. The boy has been on vacation for the last week; it was actually his idea to use retaliation items to communicate.

“Yurian, when did you get back?” Ruluna asks.

“Today, Archmage Ruluna, I was being briefed on the recent events by Flame Paladin Julaly,” Yurian answers, before asking a question of his own. ” Were you talking to the spy?”

“Yes, turns out they are not our enemies… not our friends either, but that can change if we play our cards right. Your idea with the retaliations worked perfectly – well, almost, we didn’t account for the fact that the spy does not hail from these lands and does not speak the same language.”

“It seems like you have it figured out; maybe we should work on a way to involve more people in the telepathic link...” Yurian puts a hand on his chin in thought.

“We shouldn’t surprise her; she might think it’s a trap or something. Plus, the mana costs will be increased. Follow me, I have to make a report to Headmaster Vulpun now that I have learned some things about Alysara.”

A few minutes later, Ruluna gives her report and waits for Vulpun to digest everything.

“Assuming everything she says is true,” Vulpun finally says. “I feel like we should have one of the Black Flames in on this; they know espionage, and, now that we know the Alysara we’ve been so hard pressed to find is not here, we can redirect our spies to their old posts.”

“I don’t think we should change who is communicating with Alysara; I’ve done everything I can to build trust, and changing who talks to her might put her on guard,” Ruluna warns. Truthfully she just wants to see this to its end.

“I agree, which is why I said we should ‘involve’ a Black Flame, not have him take over.” Vulpun replies. “We need to find a way to have the both of you on the same telepathic link.”

Ruluna glances over to Yurian, who said pretty much the same thing. He doesn’t meet her gaze.

Loyalty to the Order above all, including Archmages of the Order. The boy will go far, and Ruluna can’t blame him for his ambitious actions.

“Yes, sir.” Ruluna salutes. It will take time, so Ruluna will have at least three days to talk to Alysara and prepare her for what’s to come. However, the next day Alysara has a surprise for her.

“Go to the cliffs overlooking the ocean just outside of the city tomorrow at dawn.”

“Why?” Ruluna asks.

“It’s a surprise.” Alysara doesn’t say anything else about the matter, and so they continue their regular talks. Alysara has improved a lot; it’s kind of scary how fast she learns the language.

Naturally, Ruluna informs Headmaster Vulpun of Alysara’s request.

“We’ll look into it,” Vulpun says.

“Do you think it’s a trap?” Yurian asks Ruluna.

“... I don’t think so; how can she get here? It would take months of sailing, it’s not been anywhere near long enough for that to happen,” Ruluna replies after a moment of thought.

“I’ll have some Black Flames hidden there just in case,” Vulpun says.

The next day Ruluna hikes up the cliffs with Yurian and Julaly in tow. Ruluna scans the area with [Sense Mana], only picking up the Black Flames hiding nearby. There is a large tree balancing on top of the cliff, leaning over the side, and a boulder large enough to make a good seat. The sun is just peeking over the open ocean, casting pink and red onto the clouds. Being so far up, she cannot hear the ocean battering the shore, no birds are squawking, and even the wind is still, making this place feel peaceful.

Is this what she wanted to show me?

Ruluna looks over to the city below; boats are just now setting sail to trade with other cities or fish within the safe shallows. Ruluna can see the Order of Flame’s headquarters standing above the many houses around it, their banner flying proudly over them.

Ruluna closes her eyes and basks in the rising sun.

It’s—

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice rings out like an accented melody.

All heads snap up to a beautiful young girl in a skimpy two-piece dress with a long skirt obscuring her legs. Large mosaic-patterned wings adorn her back, flapping delicately, and three very long tails are dancing gracefully behind her. Long royal blue hair with golden tips makes the perfect backdrop against the light blue sky. She wears several accessories, the most immediately noticeable being the black eyewraps covering her eyes.

“Alysara?!” Ruluna gasps.