All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 116: Threads of Fate

Bee watched Susan like she was holding a hand of cards. The woman was hiding something; what was it? Susan began tapping her fingers together nervously as Bee continued to study her. Why was she so confident in being able to get through the undead by herself? Bee ran Scan on her to see what she could find.

Name: Chrissy, Level: 29, Race: Human, Class: Infiltrator, Age 33, Strongest stat: CHA

It took all of Bee's control to keep her eyes from widening. Not only had she been given a false name, but she was at a much higher level than she should be. Well, at least that explained her confidence. She should be able to keep herself safe. But with that class, Bee likely couldn't trust anything she said. Noticing that the woman still hadn't said anything, Bee started to get concerned. "Susan, are you alright?"

The woman shook her head, and her gaze refocused from the blank wall it was staring at. "Yeah, I'm totally okay. I just… Just got an odd feeling like something was watching me." She paused for a moment before adding, "It made me feel small, like an insect."

She gave a slight shiver before smiling uncertainty at Bee. I can't tell if that was an act or not, Bee thought. Should she just bring this to Void's attention? It seemed like it could be significant enough to warrant his input. And if not… Well, better safe than sorry,

Bee turned slightly, motioning for Susan to follow. "Come with me. We should talk before you go."

With that, Bee set off down the hall towards Void's chambers, "Susan" following along behind.

—

I sat on the rug, still trying to meditate. This time though, I wasn't focused on the inside of my dustbin. No, I was carefully examining the rug underneath me.

The fibers that made up the rug were much more complicated than I had first thought. Each fiber seemed to be composed of many smaller, individual ones. Even the individual fibers were astonishingly complex, though - rather than being smooth, their surfaces appeared to be composed of multiple overlapping scale-like structures that covered additional inner layers of different compositions. I wasn't sure if the complexity was because I had never seen anything like it before or because I was studying it with much more powerful sensors than I ever had access to before.

It could be either. I wondered where the material that made this work of art came from. It was undeniably organic in composition, but I didn't think there was anything like this in my dustbin. I would have to keep my eye out for something else like this, so to speak.

As I was meditating on the construction of rugs and carpets, there came a knock on my chamber door. I beeped to welcome Beatrice in. She wasn't alone. Behind her followed a taller woman who looked slightly nervous. I wondered what this was all about?

They came to a stop in front of my rug, both kneeling and bowing their heads. It was a habit these humans had all formed, and no matter what I did, I couldn't seem to break them off it. It was the worst thing. Having them talk to me near my level was nice in its own way, but the bowing was getting a little out of hand. Why couldn't they have taken to giving me head pats with this much gusto?

Inquisitively, I asked Beatrice if there was anything wrong as they stood. She looked at the woman behind her. "Um, Master. This is… Susan, and she was asking about leaving. She thought that she would be able to get to a town beyond Greg and then find her way home from there."

Okay. So now, was this important for me to know about? As far as I was aware, we weren't stopping anyone from coming or going. I asked Beatrice as much. Why had she brought this to my attention? She gave an awkward glance over to the woman and then back at me. Clearly, there was something that she wanted to say but was too uncomfortable or hesitant to speak up about.

Fine. I changed my request to Beatrice. Her face showed a bit of relief before she turned to Susan and said, "The great Void would have you tell it your story."

The woman licked her lips a couple times, and I could sense an odd moisture running down her temple. But soon, she began to speak. "I'm from the south of the kingdom, from the city of Johnson. Though I haven't been back in many years, I still have family and a few friends there. When I was much younger, maybe eight or nine, I was… recruited to join a special unit in the king's army.

"This was a unit unlike any others before it. The young commander had friends in high places and was quite the strategist. He knew that information was key to every battle. If you knew what your enemy would do, then you would have won half the battle. If you knew why they would take those actions, then victory was already yours. That was one of his favorite quotes." A small smile crossed her face as she spoke.

"Over the first several years, he trained the children in many different areas. We learned all the languages of the countries around us. We learned how to mimic each accent and how to make effective disguises. We ran with street children, and we dined with nobles. We learned to fit in anywhere and everywhere. Then, we learned to fight. By the time we were thirteen, we all had powerful classes based on deception and information gathering.

"It was hard work, but not bad. In order to maintain cover we saw our families regularly. Everyone thought we were training to be scribes and accountants for the king." She chuckled at that. "Well, not that it was a lie. We learned a lot about those disciplines as well. Over the last twenty years I have spent more time in other countries though, observing their movements, counting troops and getting grain ledgers. I have been rerouting their resources when I can and doing everything in my abilities to make sure that our kingdom would thrive."

Susan told a pretty good story, I thought to myself as I listened. The pacing was just right, and she gave a good overview without too many details. I would have to learn from her. But this also begged the question: why was she telling us all this when even her own family didn't know?

She wasn't done with her story yet, though. She took a deep breath before continuing. "We have been preparing for war for a while now. Tensions with Barleona have only gotten worse, with a little help from people like me. The king had set his sights on invading soon, but then problems sprung up in the north. There was the demon-summoning failure of our trump card. Then this undead plague.

"Naturally, the king and others thought something was up. I was moved from my station in deep cover, as most of my work had already been completed. I was meant to investigate the origins of these problems. I spent some time around the area scouting, but the undead were everywhere. Even with my training, I was struggling. But you took me in when I was hurt, and let me see how Void truly is." She glanced at me once more. "And now, I have to report back."

Beatrice had seemed tense as Susan told her tale, and even now, she didn't relax. "What exactly do you intend to report?"

Susan let out a very tired-sounding sigh. "Originally, I did intend to gather intel on entry points to the castle and Void's weaknesses. But after seeing what you're doing here and learning about Void…." Her gaze turned to me. "I have to tell them the truth."

Beatrice crossed her arms. She seemed pretty stubborn about this. "With everything you've said, how can I believe that you're not looking to come back with an army?"

Susan laughed at that. "Why? To antagonize a powerful and benevolent protector? Even if Void was a hostile force, I'd be leading them to their deaths. Yes, I've gathered intelligence while I've been here. That intelligence tells me that we'd stand no chance. She shook her head. "No, I need to tell them that Void is benevolent. That he didn't cause the plague, that he's protecting our people, and that he's a new god."

"So, will you let me go and spread the word?" Susan finished her speech and waited.

I scrutinized her. That was quite the story. It was a lot more detailed than I was expecting, honestly. At first, I wasn't sure why Beatrice wanted me to talk to her. But now it made total sense. She waited for my response, still eyeing Susan with suspicion.

Still, why did people think we were the cause of the plague? We hadn't ever done anything threatening that I could think of. Sure, there might have been a little misunderstanding when I first arrived, but surely that was cleared up now, right? And maybe they got mad about me chasing off those humans a little while ago, but that was self-defense. What could they possibly think that we did?

I asked Beatrice to translate for me. "What are the opinions of the kingdom and the surrounding areas of us?"

Susan looked between Beatrice and me, and her face paled slightly. She turned to face me fully before bowing 9.2 degrees lower than she had when she greeted me. Her head nearly touched the floor, and she didn't return to her knees this time but just spoke from the awkward-looking position. "I regret to inform you that… well, the opinion of the king and his court is not favorable to you, my god."

Susan continued in a rush. Her voice wasn't precisely tinged with fear, but something else that I couldn't exactly put my bristles on. Embarrassment or shame, maybe? "They viewed you as a threat, some accidentally summoned demon that would cause a calamity or release an ancient evil. When the undead drove off the army they had sent to stop you, they assumed that you were the cause."

"Demons being allied with undead is unheard of!" Beatrice exclaimed. Her face was flushing red. "Who made that assumption?"

"I- I'm not sure my lady. I am not privy to such information." Susan said with real shame in her voice. I couldn't tell if that was because of Beatrice's response or her lack of knowledge. Still, either one was entirely out of her control and something she shouldn't feel responsible for.

I had Beatrice convey this sentiment to her. "Worry not my lost child." Beatrice intoned. "You are not at fault for the failings of others or for things that you could neither affect nor know."

Hey, that was much closer to what I meant! Closer than Beatrice usually got, at least. The tone was a lot different than what I would have used, but the words were close enough. Was she getting better at interpreting, or was it just the simplicity of the message?

I told her that she was free to go. Beatrice nodded at my beeps. "Walk safely and keep yourself clean."

As Susan and Beatrice exchanged a few more words, I turned my attention to more important things and continued my study of the rug. The fibers were indeed organic. But they weren't from plants. No, they seemed to be something else. It was similar in structure to human hair.

Maybe I could try to weave something out of some of the hair I already had in my dustbin? With all the long-haired women around, I had a good amount of it. Curious, I started manipulating some that I had sorted into their own categories. Between how thin the strands were and the complexity of the work, It felt clumsy and difficult. Looking at the finished product, I beheld a small swatch of brownish material. I couldn't tell if it was my technique that was off or just a problem with the material.

I popped some small bits of hair out of the dustbin and tried manipulating it with Air Manipulation. Somehow that was even worse. I couldn't control the air well enough to isolate a single strand without blowing the rest around the room, much less weaving them together. Examining my best effort, though, it seemed that there was some small potential here.

As Susan and Beatrice stood to go, I called out to Beatrice, asking her to stay because I had a task for her.