“Was that really stromrak?” Emma rested her hands on her belly like a pregnant woman, “That was amazing.”

  “Why thank you.” Cira replied with a smug grin. “You should try my cal-calzone, but I suppose the ingredients aren’t in season around here.”

  Emma was too full to be confused as Cira gazed into the distance wistfully.

  “Hey, what are your plans after this?” She had come out of her shell a little bit over the past couple weeks, and seemed to have taken a liking to Cira.

  “Ohhh, I need to help Old Fitz out with a couple things. It’s about time I attempt to produce results.” Cira got up to look over Icarus.

  “Oh, okay… Never mind then.” Emma reverted to her sheepish ways as she did in situations like these, but Cira wasn’t having it. She spun around with a shit-eating grin and knowing laugh. “That’s sounds important.”

  “So-so. Why do you ask?” The girl shrunk back as Cira got in her face, “Out with it. Come on.”

  “W-well, I noticed I only ever see you in Lady Eliza’s class. And, well… I’m in a lot of classes.” Cira wasn’t entirely sure where she was going with this, but there was a very good reason for it.

  “That’s only because she appears before me each morning. If I had it my way, nothing which depends on a schedule would see my participation. While her instruction has been valuable thus far, it is advantageous for my studies to forgo the concept of time and obligation altogether.” Cira nodded assuredly as she came up with such reasoning off the top of her head. A thought from the heart. “And that makes me curious as to what it is you have planned this afternoon?”

  With a confused but delighted smile, Emma sat up with excitement, “Do you want to come to practical magic arts with me? I don’t know how strong you are compared to the instructors, or perhaps vice versa… but it could be fun—er, I mean, you might be able to learn something new!”

  Cira thought about it for a minute before Fitzgeralt’s words echoed in her mind: something something different perspective.

  “Alright, I’m in.”

  ___

  The sounds of rolling dice and shuffling cards filled the busy lobby. Nobles from all across the Boreal flocked here to lose money, but the gambling wasn’t really what drew them in or kept them here. These were customers who never ran out of gold, and they almost never failed to cough it up when the time came.

  Each one was dressed in fineries of exotic materials and most on the bottom floor of Benobal House had multiple women on their arm. Some cheeky folk up the way call this island the pearl of the Boreal, but the Madam fancied a slightly different phrasing.

  And it would not be entirely untrue to say she clutched the Boreal by the Pearls here. This was a service no male noble and a surprising number of ladies could seemingly live without. And due to Oasis’ autonomy as a city-state, quality of life for residents and overall freedom, it shined across the Boreal like a beacon of hope to all working women in these skies.

  Midnight was one such concubine on some dirty little island by the sea until the welfare division found that the island’s lords were driving up taxes to keep her in a perpetual cycle of debt. Madam Benobal cleared her dues through a third party along with six others that day and contracted local merchants to secure her safe passage all the way to Oasis.

  For others in less disadvantaged situations, they often pilgrimaged here from as far away as the Sunset Skies for a better life, thus leaving the Boreal relatively dry of that which they can’t seem to live without.

  Many nobles have tried to speak up about Benobal’s intervention over the years, but there was no way of knowing who came from where. Of course, each noble got slapped with a familial ban for a few years, and the problem disappeared naturally for a while.

  While many change professions to become an assassin like Midnight, or any other career path Oasis offers, the hands with which Madam Benobal’s clutch tightens only grew by the day.

  I was upset at first that we weren’t going into battle like the other teams, but Io said diplomacy was a critical skill for a sorcerer’s harem to possess, so I held my head high as Midnight led us straight across the lobby down the gaudy red carpet.

  Noble heads turned, but we made a point not to look at them. Some though threw their cards down to approach us, but turned around and shambled away before even getting close.

  This was a trick of Midnight’s she called Stupor, which inflicted effects similar to a few flights of ale with just a smidge of amnesia.

  “I’m so glad to have you back, Big Sis!” Her black pigtails bobbed as she smiled up at me and I had to resist rustling her hair. “Will you be staying this time?”

  “Unfortunately, not for long.” Her cheeks fell into a slight frown. Alright, fine. I rustled her hair like I used to when we were younger. “But if everything goes well, you will be seeing more of me.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Yes!” Midnight clenched a fist and hopped away. An enchanted door parted in the middle and we all stepped inside. “Just a minute.”

  She withdrew a mana-drenched key from her pocket and placed it into the wall before putting her hand on a specific glyph. It lit up and the room started to rise.

  I took this chance to catch up with Midnight a little while the other girls chatted among themselves, but in just a couple minutes we reached the top. When the doors opened again we were met with a dark room. A stale waft of incense smoke shrouded us and Midnight led us inside.

  “Madam, look who it is.” Midnight called out as we entered and a thin woman at a desk across the room raised her head. She had a narrow face and pointed chin, which complimented her permanent scowl. Despite her very apparent age, the look in her eyes was sharp. “Ember brought friends!”

  She took a long puff from a cigarette on an ivory holder long enough to reach over the desk. After letting out a cloud of smoke, she spoke in the same bitter voice I remembered.

  “So, she has…” Madam Benobal made us wait while she took another puff and blew it into the air. I could feel my sisters gettings nervous as she scrutinized them in order before her hawk eyes settled on me, “You’ve gained weight. Too much muscle. I doubt you could charge the same as you used to, but you may be able to overcome the difference by working in a group or scouting some regulars. Midnight, find Grace and ready them a room—”

  “That won’t be necessary.” Most people didn’t dare interrupt Madam Benobal, but if I hadn’t said something Midnight would go through a lot of work for nothing. “We’re not here to work. We’re here for business.”

  “Is that right?” She let out a long sigh and lit another cigarette after ashing the first. “On behalf of your master, I presume? You walk in here with eight mysterious harlots at your back dressed in golden rags and I’m supposed to be impressed? I can’t fathom what business you possibly think I may be open to, or is your master truly so ignorant? Or are they sick in the head? Do I need to dispatch the welfare division?”

  She may be right on both counts… But this changes nothing.

  “I would appreciate you not insult my master, Madam. I assure you she will not lose sleep over souring relations with another old hag.”

  While I said this, Io told us our mission was no less important than the others. Today would only be a true success if each team accomplished their goals. Cira likely didn’t even know this island existed, but the Mortal Council agreed it would be disadvantageous to act in her name if we couldn’t produce results.

  “Yeah—” Goldie tried to back me up but choked when Benobal cast a glare her way.

  The other girls were also silenced as the tension in the air started to thicken. Even Midnight was a little nervous beneath her chuckles. She loved watching the two of us argue, but even I rarely saw Benobal this on-edge. If I didn’t know better, I would think I caught her on a bad day.

  “You sure learned to talk big, didn’t you, girl?” She shook her head and leaned back in the chair. “Tsk-tsk, I thought I raised you better than this… To think you’ve really fallen for their charm. And a woman too—she must be truly deranged to send you here like this. I’m disappointed. What are those rags made of anyway? I admit they look like the real thing, but a fa?ade is only good for telling the world how little value may be found within. Didn’t I teach you that?”

  The fact that she didn’t raise me aside, I don’t know who ‘they’ is supposed to be.

  “You also taught me not to make short-sighted assumptions, did you not?” Benobal narrowed her gaze at me. “We have come to purchase Oasis on behalf of the Eternal Empress Cirina Dreadheart.”

  The Madam clenched a fist and stood up from her desk, vein popping in her forehead as she tossed her cigarette to the floor, “You get the hell off my island, you treacherous hag. And take those gutter wenches with you. Right this second.” Her raspy words were spat like poison.

  As the old woman’s pale face grew red with fury, I felt bad my little sister was caught in the middle. She looked scared to see Benobal so enraged, and shocked to hear me say something so absurd.

  “I refuse.” The others stood behind me in a show of force. We couldn’t relent yet when we hadn’t even started negotiations.

  “Midnight…” Benobal growled as a ring on her finger lit up, “Remove them from Oasis.”

  ___

  Stupid Cira. Did she ever stop to think that maybe I wanted to go on an adventure too? I was fine with our cursed contract of eternal servitude. I could basically do whatever I wanted except harvest human souls, which really wasn’t a big deal to skip out on for a century or two. Things were good.

  But noooo, Cira had to scare everybody with her fancy new curse and disappear into the nearest leyline. If anyone on Paradise could stand around while she played with ancient powers, isn’t it only obvious that this person would be the spider who has lived for tens of thousands of years?

  Her hideously contorted crying face was enough to tell me that she was upset at leaving everyone behind, so why wouldn’t she take at least one companion with her? The equally ancient and wise Legs McClensky?!

  No, that’s not right… She took Nina along. Is it because she’s cuter? She always said she hated spiders, but I didn’t know she was being serious.

  I hadn’t seen Nina in weeks, which meant she had to be with Cira. We used to have deep conversations long into the night, and I missed those too.

  It’s all your fault, Cira.

  First she turned me into a cursed slave and now expected me to just live on my own without any order or direction? I wasn’t thrilled about being a de facto servant, but to realize she didn’t actually need me for any reason really hurt my ancient feelings. I may have come off strong trying to take over one of her friends’ vessels and sure we argued here and there, but this was a girl I had been waiting to meet for almost a century.

  Alas, I was stuck in a bell jar of my own creation.

  And huddling back in my cave did little more than make me miss the warm comfort of her left sleeve. This ashen moss just didn’t feel the same, and it was lukewarm at best.

  But Io gave me a chance to go on my own adventure. It was my time now. Forget about Cira.

  I emerged from the aether on shimmering silk.

  “W-what the hell is that?!” A man in fuzzy purple robes which looked quite warm fell off his bed onto the marble floor.

  “Ahh!” A disrobed woman shrieked, backing herself into a corner.

  “Sleep.” The woman slid to the floor with her back against the wall.

  “A-Assassin! Guards, come quick!” The man sprinted for the door, but it wouldn’t open. His hand grew still on the doorknob as he turned around to look squarely into my many eyes.

  “Excuse me—”

  “It can talk?!” He banged against the door, “Guards, help!”

  I loudly cleared my nonexistent throat, “Ahem! Excuse me, good sir. Would you happen to be Reginald Ponce Laluka de Gandeux?”