Chapter 21: 17: Feenruhe

Lara sat beside Leannan as the two drove the carriage. The actual interior had room for one person and Deidre was the worst driver so they trapped her in there with the luggage.

"Lara, we can't go faster."

"But this is slow."

"Unless you want us to jettison the luggage, this is the limit."

"I'd be fine with it."

"Well I wouldn't."

Lara leaned back and let out a groan. "Two weeks at this speed? Twins, I'll die of slow."

"It's not that slow."

"In comparison to what I'm used to it is." Lara shooed a fly away from her face. "I wish you and Brio would hurry up and finish those runes."

"Besides the fact I still don't understand how it would help you with your acting career, runes that allow that level of movement and control without replication are complicated."

"So you continue to claim."

"Like if the ones on you are a high school essay, the vehicular one is a college dissertation."

Lara smiled, "Well, keep trying. I want to go fast."

The carriage continued on, through the dip and hills, turns and such. The first week of travel was uneventful; just smooth, slow, boring rolling over hills and flatlands as they went. It wasn't until they reached into Ruskalyka to pass through it that troubles began.

They had gotten into the country easily, it was just by the luck of the eldest twin that the carriage lost a wheel a day inside the larger and mostly empty country. Deidre stumbled out of the carriage and joined the other two in standing around looking at the broken wheel like something could be done. Leannan when asked about using a rune shook her head. Dead objects can only be held together for a short while and only if the stress is minimum. Lara went to pet and comfort the horses while Leannan and Deidre began to look around for a nearby house or village. It took only a glance to realize the only real course was to wait and hope another traveling carriage passed them by- one with forethought to bring spare wheels with them.

Lara and Deidre chatted while Leannan rested her eyes. She was disappointed in herself for not being more prepared. She had trusted that the carriage would be fine, since well- it had been maintained and inspected weekly at the Academy. Apparently not all that closely however.

She also did not wish to overstay in the Ruskalykan territory. The relationship was a lot of forced smiles that both sides knew were as fake as their own. Not to mention the country was nearly at the point of a civil war, or rather an attempt at a revolution by the working class. In the Empire talk on which side to support was debated hotly. Since most in the highest seats were rich themselves they seemed to prefer supporting the royals, while the few less fortunate digressed. The military surprisingly leaned more towards the revolutionaries. The brass was more neutral, but the lower ranks supported the rebels whole heartedly. Leannan suspected that when the fighting started the brass would join the lower ranks- if reports that some of the finest generals in Ruskalyka had joined the Revolutionary Forces were true. For her part, she'd suggest either staying out of it or supporting both secretly so they could have a relationship with the winner regardless of who that may be. 

Leannan didn't think that they were in trouble of meeting the rebels out here, and if they did- well, she did fully expect to be the only person they captured. Lara and Deidre weren't dressed in fabric that could buy a nice little house in most Ruskalykan villages, and have a good bit on hand afterwards too. Well. perhaps Deidre's armor could be worth something to them as well. Not to mention she was sure the name Kaga and the public knowledge of herself as a Rune User would be something to interest them as well. She wasn't sure if Lara would be known out here- and if she were what use would they have for capturing an actress anyhow? Well, if anyone knew her actual last name and not her stage name that might be a different story.

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Morsdea Doch swore as she drove through the woods. She was currently running away from home, alone with a stolen one horse carriage. It had been a half planned, half spur of the moment type deal. The cancellation of the weekly meeting had left her down, since she missed on seeing her friends and being free from her overbearing parents. Add the fact her parents had caught her... doing something together with a servant girl on top of her in her room involving both of their lip- and really she didn't wish to listen or be around them. So she stole from her own stables and ran away, using a rune of binding to give her a large head start if and when they tried to send the servants after her.

She was not, however, good at driving a carriage- especially not on the forest roads. She jostled and jolted as she drove faster than a trained driver would, and faster than the horse cared to. There was little chance that her barely locked hap-hazardously packed trunk hadn't had its contents tossed and spilled in the carriage at this point. The hem of her dress had been torn jumping into the driver seat and by now she could feel the wind on her thighs and the hairy seat covering digging into her skin. 

She leaned forward in an attempt to go faster still, feeling the wind against her face, eyes squinting into near blindness. Faster, faster. She commanded the poor horse to pump it's legs again and again, moving at speeds at which it had never carried a carriage at. Mors was more worried on escape from pursuers she had no proof were after her than the health of her horse or her own safety. Of course, she quickly found herself with no way to control the horse, nor stop it- though she didn't know that, much too focused on the speed at which she wished to go to have thoughts about how unsafe she may or may not have been.

As she turned a corner she could just make out a carriage stopped upon the edge of the road before by pure instinct she yanked the horse to stop which scared the beast into breaking free of her shoddy handiwork which had kept him attached to the carriage and away into the woods he ran, free from duty and stress. Her carriage awkwardly slid forward for a few dozen feet before stopping and tipping forward, Mors barely catching herself before falling into the dirt. She coughed as the dirt that had been tossed up settled back down and stumbled down off of the driver's bench. She swore in Ruskalykan towards the general direction of the horse.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked. Mors looked towards it, and as her eyes met the freckled face, worried blue eye, and tightly wound orange hair, an embarrassed recognition passed across her eyes.

"Leannan?" She asked, worried that she had been tossed from the carriage after all and she was suffering from head trauma induced delusions. The older girl nodded and laughed.

Leannan waved for the two even older girls she was with to come over. The first was dressed in the armor of the Empire's Capital Guard- Mors assumed she was a body guard for the group. She certainly had the size and stern face for it. Beside her was... she blinked. Huh, she looked kind of looked familiar, though to where that familiarity lied, Mors could not place. Like she had been hanging out around Leannan, but she had never focused on her. Yes, she thought she remembered Leannan talking to someone like her at a party- but she wasn't sure.

"You know this girl?" The tall blonde asked.

"Yeah, this is Mors."

"Who?"

The smaller girl shook her head, "The Ruskalykan Rune User, Heir to the Doch family."

"And you know that why?"

"How are you friends with my brother and Leannan and you still don't know who any of the rune users are?"

"I tune out most of their rune talk, La."
 Leannan coughed, "Mors, these are my friends, Deidre Kaga." The taller girl waved, "And Lara Whatever The Hell Her Current Stage Name Is Galahad." The other one nodded.

"A pleasure to be meeting with you all."

Lara smiled and replied in Ruskalykan, "Yes, it is quite nice to meet you as well. I do hope you'll be more normal than the other Rune Users I've met."

"Oh, you can speak Ruskalykan?"

Leannan nodded, "Lara's father made her. Plus she wanted to read some plays in their original language. Deidre is... well she's trying to learn other languages since she wants to travel with Lara, but the only things in her head are training and Lara. You wouldn't mind if I..."

"No, go ahead. You know I can't do those types of runes."

Leannan drew from the magic on her hip and etched the rune of translation onto the neck of each of them.

"So, Mors, exactly what are you doing out here?"

"No, I live here. You should answer me first. What are you doing here?"

"Passing through to Feenruhe."

"I may have been escaping my parents after they umm... caught me in an act I wish not to disclose to people I just met."

"Well, we are stuck here. Our wheel broke, and I didn't bring enough magic to hold the runes until we reached a town."

"I suppose you are asking for me to take mine off and give it to you?"

"Of course."

"And what do you offer in return for this kindness I am doing for you?"

"You said you were running away? Come with us. Feenruhe is a good place to hide."

Mors didn't think it over and agreed quickly, the two rune users moving to remove and replace the wheels while Deidre and Lara tossed the large trunk of Mors into the carriage before jumping onto the back bench and strapping themselves in. 

Once the younger girls finished replacing the wheel, Leannan checked on the two. "I honestly forgot this one had a rumble bench. Kind of assumed you'd have to sit inside and pray to the twins that you'd not be crushed."

"Can you just hurry up and go, I am tired of staring at the trees." Deidre scowled, sitting sideways so her legs were over Lara's lap. Lara patted them and nodded for Leannan to depart. A few seconds later the now quartet began to venture forth anew.

Mors watched as the lands her family controlled began to disappear in front of her, reaching into the lands of the other nobles, ones much more full of fields than the forests of her own land. She could see servants in the fields, tilling for the profits of their owners, the sun beating them like the whips that threatened them if they slowed down or slipped up, even for a moment.

"So... older or younger?"

"Oh my twins, I hate you. And older. We were just kissing too. I mean sure, my parents are you know, but it's not like I was really doing anything bad."

"Uh, huh. Where's your manservant?"

"Rabotnik? Oh, he left a year ago with Fairah."

"Did he? Well, well. Good for them."

"So... any gossip on your friends? Should I be straight with then or play straight with them?"

"I sincerely doubt that the two lovebirds share any proclivity with your parents towards what you do and with who."

"I kinda assumed Lyrica was fine, nice rune work, but knight types are a fifty fifty kind of deal, despite them being classic love interests in our type of books."

"Thank you."

"So, are they like high or low?"

"Well, Deidre is High. Daughter of Baron Kaga and the Sword Plague."

"Oh? No wonder she's so tall."

"And Lara is, well technically high, her actual mother is unknown and probably a lower class friend of the Galahads."

"The High Defender Family? What was with the weird name you said.?"

"She might enjoy the money she gets, but she is an actress and it is apparently a tradition to use a stage name. Not like she's managed to fucking pick one and stick with it. It is getting seriously old, Mors."

"An actress and her knight? Twins, sounds like a romance novel."

"A romance novel would have protagonists that aren't idiots." She said before clinching her head. She used magic to pull a rune off of her neck. "Sorry, I forgot I had a mental link rune with Lara. She heard me talking about her and decided to yell. I didn't even know you could yell in your head that loud."

"Well, can't say you didn't deserve it."

"I clearly didn't, Morsdea."

On the back, Lara and Deidre jolted and jostled along, regretting having sat back there with each slosh of their stomach's juices. They couldn't even look at the scenery around them, let alone enjoy it. Deidre prayed that the roads would smooth out up ahead or she would be emptying her guts across the dirt soon.

Lara had her arms hooked around Deidre's legs to prevent them from kicking up and smacking her in the face.

Deidre looked at Lara who was completely focused on trying to not fall to either the empty side nor onto Deidre. Deidre knew why. Just from her turning to avoid having her feet scrapped off the strap had tightened around her and was squeezing way too tight. She would adjust but she really enjoyed being on the carriage so she had to suffer until they stopped.

The day passed slowly, traveling through the country. The night was starless, and no town near, so they pulled over to the side of the road and after the two Rune Users drew some runes to avoid them being seen, the four slept together on the benches, Leannan staring at the sky above, Mors on her side staring into the darkened fields, and Lara on top of Deidre, using her as warmth and a pillow. They traveled and slept like this for two more days and nights, until they finally departed from the Ruskalykan Territory, into Pespin, a small nation and the last in the way of them and Feenruhe.

Lara stretched as she walked the streets of the small town they had stopped in. Her feet slid on the dew wet stones as she looked at nothing in particular. She'd been in this town before, she thought. A vague sense of familiarity rested in the back of her head. The twinge of a memory nearly lost poking at her mind. Lara bit the inside of her mouth, thinking. She was happy, of course, yet still she seemed to feel uneasy with how things were. Deidre grasped her hand as she caught up. Lara smiled to herself as their fingers interlocked.

"I think the straps nearly cut me in half." Deidre said.

"You seem fine to me."

"I can assure you, it hurt."

"Isn't that your own fault?"

"Shouldn't you comfort your girlfriend."

"My girlfriend is strong enough on her own."

"You are lucky you're cute."

"Have Mors and Leannan got a room yet?"

"No, Leannan is trying to haggle, to the usual success."

"Should we find jobs now or wait to see the damage?

Deidre laughed, "You know, I expected towns outside the empire to be different, this is... normal. Weirdly normal."

"Well, yeah. It's almost like this part of the continent was settled by similar groups of people. Trust me, Feenruhe is going to culture shock you."

"And not you?"

"I've traveled outside the Capitol, love."

"I guess you have. So, find any place to chow down?"

"No, unless you count that tavern and I'm not taking you into a tavern this early." "Oh, come on La. I'm not that bad. We need to eat a real meal."

Lara and Deidre continued on, looking around for the tell tale signs of food. The only businesses they found were trinket stores, woodworkers and barbers. The two sighed as they walked back into what could generously be called the town's center and sat down on one of a few weirdly placed benches that were angled at the wrong degree to be comfortable to sit in. They stared in the direction of the Inn, watching as the doors opened and out walked an overly confident looking Leannan and a Mors who looked as if she had just seen a headless chicken walking around and eating.

"Hey! Guess who got us two rooms. Fifty a night. Each."

Deidre looked to Mors who using her fingers told her it was ninety overall. Deidre shook her head. "Well, Lara didn't find us a place to eat. And she won't let me in the Tavern."

"Well, you are a tavern. And you're in luck. There's an eatery north of town. A nice man told us about it. Think that one will have to stay."

Mors shook her head, "Yeah, if a saint of food giving is the new definition of nice."

"That is a good name for him. He even offered to pay for our meal."

"Oh? He fancy you?" Lara asked.

"Shut it and just enjoy the meal."

"Fine." Lara rolled her eyes as they went off to eat. 

"It was weird how he didn't offer it till we told him Deidre's name."

"Oh? Is that so?" Deidre shook her head, "Ugh, why can't men just get it don't like them?"

"Be nice- he offered to pay. Ah, love. Of course Deidre has to come or we have to pay." 

Lara's eye slitted, "I am suddenly feeling unwell. Perhaps I should stay in."

"Yeah, that's nice." Deidre said. "I wonder what noble Imperial man would be out here?"

"He's paying, so who cares."

Deidre nodded, and pushed open the door running to the man immediately as she saw him and happily bowed to him exc-

...

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W

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"Wow. A bit overboard, aren't we?" Lara said.

"They deserved it." Lara replied.

"I've seen people do worse."

You are reading story Tune Somnia at novel35.com

"Yes, but this was to people I care about. Puppeting them like that made me sick- and the language they used. Such trite outdated garbage."

"Yes. And yet is it really any different to what Leannan does to everyone?"

"It is different. He made them do things they wouldn't against there will."

"I see no real difference in the results. Besides, he did offer you bliss with Deidre."

"After begging for his life and as trophies to show off how perfect his town would be."

"Still, the other two weren't culpable."

"Don't you have people you care about?"

"Yes. I wouldn't have killed people like this though."

"I mean you did. We did."

"In a sense, yes. But still... overboard. There's nothing here that could be described as a body. Ly would be impressed with such blatant disregard for human life."

"Thanks for your help regardless, random voice in my head."

"As I have told you, I am you. Another you. Oh, wait. Your Deidre is waking up. Make sure she's okay."

"Oh, now you care about her."

"My friend would care about her, and you care about her, so I care about her. And you. Now, go. Act normal, Lara."

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It was strange. Deidre found herself in a feminine dress, done up like a common floozy. She shook powder out from her hair. What the fuck. She sniffed the air, the iron scent of blood heavy in the air. She turned her head, looked down and asked as she saw a bloodied Lara standing alone. "Lara? What exactly are we doing here?"

Lara's face beamed as she heard Deidre's voice. "Deidei! Oh, don't worry. Just visiting some people who needed to be... well, you can see."

"And why am I dressed like this?"

"Better if you try not to think about it. Not like you have memories anyways, probably, thankfully." 

Deidre shook her head. Lara was clearly not going to answer anything, and she knew from experience that trying to push her would be futile. She turned to nearby room and went inside. Noticing her sword and armor in a corner she disrobed and got back into the clothes she was actually comfortable in. 

"What's the stains in that room from?" Leannan asked.

"Oh, you know. Human juices." Lara said.

Deidre walked down the stairs and pulled Lara into an embrace from behind. The smaller Lara grew as crimson as an apple. "La, I love you."

Lara stammered in reply as Leannan walked out of the mansion, "Come on, we need to get going."

Mors pulled the two lovebirds forward to the entrance. Leannan was already across the street as the exited. Lara told Deidre to help Leannan load the carriage before turning to Morsdea. "So, if you wouldn't mind."

Mors got the gist. She drew a large fire rune on the front door and the two crossed the street into the Inn. Behind them the mansion began to burn, slowly at first until it became a raging inferno. A few town folks gathered to watch it burn, no one really caring about it or sure why it was in their town to begin with.

The quartet left quickly, not wanting to risk being questioned in relation to the fire. 

"So, Mors. What do you think of the idiots?"

"They are... entertaining. And extremely dumb when around each other. It's cute. I wish to be in love with someone so much that I act like a fool as well."

"Please don't, we might not make it to Feenruhe with only myself as the sane one."

Mors laughed, "Don't worry, I am far too picky to fall for a girl that easily."

'Oh, and that servant girl."

"I said love, Leannan, not lust."

"I know I said I'd get you into Feenruhe, but just to warn you- you likely will be forced into going to school."

"Would be a first."

"I will ignore that."

On the rumble bench Lara was being unusually needy towards Deidre. The smaller Lara had positioned herself directly next to her girlfriend, bodies awkwardly bumping into each other as the carriage moved along.

"So... La, you wouldn't happen to know the legal age in Feenruhe, would you?"

"I am not letting you get drunk in Feenruhe." Lara glared daggers into her girlfriend.

"I won't drink in public. I'll just drink in our... wherever we'll be staying."

"I'd say no, but I know I can't stop you. I just hope we can afford any damage done."

"Oh come on, I only fight drunk when someone challenges me- and I doubt my La is going to fight me."

"I mean if we weren't dating I might."

Deidre laughed before leaning over to kiss Lara. She felt like she needed to purge a taste from her lips, a feeling that made her sick. The faintest taste of words whose aftertaste felt like vile. She kissed her again and again, Lara's face held some worry and guilt as she did. They stopped when as she went back to lock lips again the carriage hit a bump and slammed the two together. The two fell to either side of the bench and silently swore and screamed in pain.

The carriage of idiots moved at a good pace over the road, quickly gliding through fields and forest, meeting nary a traveler or soul. It was still a day at least until they reached the border. Mors and Leannan gossiped about their fellow Rune Users while Lara and Deidre tried planning how they wanted to divide the chores between them.

They stopped to set up camp in a clearing in the woods, slightly down a path just off the main road. Mors and Leannan stuffed themselves in an expensive yet shoddily set up tent while Deidre set up a cheap tent quickly and perfectly for herself and Lara. Around the campfire they chatted.

"You were worried I was straight?" Deidre asked, "Do I look straight?"

"You're a knight, a female knight. Those are either lesbians or... you know."

"You need to learn to differentiate books from reality."

"Hey, sorry if I don't think a giant knight from the Empire is kissing girls."

"La, defend me."

"I would but I don't get to see your cute frustrated face, babe."

Leannan sighed, "I am beginning to to regret telling Deidre to actually visit you."

Lara feigned offense, "You wish a lesbian couple wouldn't be together? Typical noble."

"I am so glad you'll be off campus."

Deidre pulled out her meat on a stick from the fire and chomped down. "So, you immediately thought Lara was fine?"

"Obviously. Look at her." She motioned at the girl who posed for them like a entire and total dork. "Also I saw the runes on her back."

Deidre was about to speak again when Leannan stopped her, "Lara, can you just take her to bed."

Lara pulled Deidre away from the fire and into their tent a few yards away, the knight quickly stuffing her face with meat. They disappeared and after some rustling and other noises and grunts fell into silence.

"It is best to get Deidre to sleep when she's like that. She either never shuts up or nowadays starts drinking."

"So, what magic casters does the married couple use?"

Leannan giggled, "Deidre uses two heat blades, and Lyrica doesn't. Abnormal."

"Oh, in which way?"

"In the magic goes the wrong way. Like oil to water."

"Well, makes sense she doesn't carry one then. Is it safe to walk next to her?"

"Unless she tries to use or activate a caster or mechanism or purposely places any part of her hand near magic and forces it to go and it leaks, she's harmless around magic. Why else do you think my runes worked on her?"

Mors nodded, "So, can you go over how this school works again?"

Leannan's eyebrows lowered, "I'm tired, so no. It's not that hard to figure out. Just wait until tomorrow." Leannan said before leaving to sleep. 

Mors sat and continued to stare at the fire.

________________________________________________________________________

The guard watched as the carriage approached and held her hand out for them to stop. "Halt, travelers. State your business here."

Leannan held up a paper, "I am Leannan Sioga, charge of Isolde the Ravenpact, and Rune User of the Empire. I have come to study among your scholars and witches. This is my friend, Morsdea Doch- Rune User of Ruskalyka, who I invite on my own invitation to study alongside me."

"Very well, and the two on the back?"

"My guard, and the Abnormal I promised to bring."

The guard walked to look closer and the two, noting with some jealousy how strong the girl in armor looked and the fact the two were holding hands. "Very well. You may pass. Welcome to Feenruhe, Lady Sioga and guests."

The group passed through the checkpoint and over the border into the holy state of Feenruhe.

It was a massive and mostly flat piece of land, the main capital around the one lake in the entire country, while farms and fields dotted the lands outside of it. The academy was a few miles south west of the capital, and sizable town for the area, and the second biggest population center in the country.

It was a rather large campus with seven buildings on the grounds and a town wrapping around it like a wall. There were plenty of roads to an from it, where women walked and road on carriages and horse on break from the academy. The entire economic system of the town relied on it and thus no one who wasn't a farmer worked with the academy or for the faculty and students of it. There were few people older than school age and younger than retirement who didn't have part or all of their lives revolve around the academy.

The roads were also well kept, giving the carriage a smoother ride than was usual for them, especially for the idiots on the rumble bench. The fields around the capital were more grain based, with the fact that the academy's meals were mostly bread based, since it was cheapest to make and afford. The few animals were dairy cows, nary a chicken or other animal meant for slaughter to be seen. Most of the meat and non-grain were transfered from elsewhere in the country as they were needed.

As they reached the university town proper, they saw a few ladies in fanciful dress in the park the town set up to let the visitors to the town's first impression of it to be of nature, beauty and excess. Marble statues lined the path, the white pale faces of goddesses staring around in poses no one would actually ever make. Lara tried in vain to kick them as they passed. The ladies whispered as the carriage rolled by, words exchanged behind fans. The path continued, snaking its way along the edge of the town, the backs of buildings obscuring much of the view of it, and the few it did were fleeting flashes between cracks or slight movements in back windows as they went on by. It was around two in the afternoon, meaning most people would have been working or in the academy anyways.

The gates were modest and black, open wide with only the ornate F and A on each one marking them as the entrance of anything of importance. They pulled onto a side path and soon arrived at a small station where they parked and got off.

Stretching Deidre asked, "Well, now what?"

"I think we just go in." Leannan said.

The knight scowled, "Do you know where you need to go?"

Leannan's eyes moved away from Deidre as she replied, "Of course, it's not like I planned to wander the halls until I found the Headmistress's Office."

The three other girls clearly didn't believe her but she began walking up the path to avoid anymore of them questioning her poor planning. She had assumed someone would have greeted them and shown them to the Headmistress, but clearly that was wrong.

The grounds of the academy were rather well kept, grass freshly mowed, the trees and brushes trimmed and stately. Local flowers lined the paths, giving the air a slight hint of their aroma. Mors gave praise to the groundkeepers, while Lara grabbed Deidre to stop her from picking any of the flowers- out of fear she'd try to eat them and that they'd get in trouble for picking them.

The door approached and  Leannan paused. It was rather small, more like a normal door than the monstrosities that Ferwick had on it's outside. She pushed and the door creaked open. The interior was lit by multitudes of magic lamps, a long hallway with no doors on either side. A rack of coats hung on either side of the enclave. Mors closed the door behind them.

"Are we supposed to come in this way?" Asked a concerned Lara. "Seems rather... lacking in um, doors."

"Well it was unlocked and the only door near." Leannan justified.

"Fair."

They moved forward, heels echoing against the floor and fading in the distance of the empty and silent hall. The hallway gave way to a circular room with a bunch of hallways branching from it. A staircase leading up and down was in the north corner and to the east of it appeared to be the main entrance. A sign on the wall pointed up and read: "Second Floor: Advance Classes. Third Floor: Dormitories" and a sign hanging above the downward stairs warned that access to it was restricted. The group looked for a sign to lead them to the Headmistress so Mors and Leannan could get registration over with before giving up and spinning the pointer Leannan used to draw runes with until it pointed down a hall and walking down that path first. 

This one had doors, with thick glass that obscured anyone from seeing in. Each door had a number and letter carved in them, the only thing differentiating them from one another. The numbers seemed to have no order to them, jumping the alphabet and numerical order at seemingly random intervals. They moved forth, eyes moving left right, left right as they looked for any door that might be the one they needed.

As they approached the end of the hallway a door opened and out walked a rather stern looking older woman in a pointy hat and robes. She glared at them as she lit a pipe. "And who might the vagrants in the hall be?"

"Oh, hello madam. We are looking for the Headmistress's Office. Could you perhaps direct us to her?"

"Gertrude's office? It's the hallway left of the stairs. You new students?"

"Myself and Mors are yes." 

The witch eyed Deidre and Lara as she puffed smoke. "Well, go along. Don't keep wasting time in the halls."

They rushed back down the hall and to the one the stern witch mentioned. The doors marked "Headmistress" were only a few doors down. Leannan knocked on it. A voice spoke and told them to enter.

A brown haired woman with skin the color of a cool summer night in a long flowing dress and a large white sun hat smiled at them. She stared directly at Leannan, "You must be Isolde's charge Leannan."

"Yes, ma'am."

"A pleasure to meet you. I am Headmistress Oleandra Deadwood." She  moved her gaze to the other three, "And these are?"

"Oh! Sorry." Leannan grabbed Morsdea and introduced her first, "This is my friend whom I wish to enroll alongside me. Morsdea Doch."

"Oh, yes the young Doch girl, I am aware of her. So I take it these two are the guard you hired and the abnormal."

"Yep, Deidre Kaga and Lara Whateve- Lara Galahad, excuse me."

Deidre nodded while Lara curtsied.

"Well then, I'll register these two and get them into a room." She tossed Lara a key, "Fourteen Four Highwind Avenue. Get some rest, Miss Galahad, I have you scheduled to show off the abnormality tomorrow:"

"Outside I hope." Leannan said waving as the two left. 

"Of course, if it is as explosive as your kingdom claims."

"It's probably more."

The two were set up with a room. While Mors got unpacked, Leannan decided to take a walk around town.

________________________________________________________________________

Leannan glared as she held a string of magic on her pointer. 

Zurah shook her head, "Worry not, successor. I am only here to pick up some things,  from my house. I have no interest in the games we all play. Besides, tis not the time for her revival."

"Oh sure, I'll trust you, the woman who uses her own alternative selves as slaves to help her."

"Only when they agree, unfortunately for me this one has no interest in my Goddess. Rather a strange me, too anarchist for my tastes. Those changes you made in the early reset have made quite the upset of the status quo we all had been used to."

"Then it was clearly worth it, that milk I spilled."

Zurah laughed. "Sure, if that's your belief." She waved her fingers in front of her face as she walked into the shadows of the tree. Leannan darted after her, but when she passed behind the tree the Cult Leader was gone.

A mile away Zurah walked along. "Well, I must be going. I wish I could have seen my dearest. But alas. Ah, sweet goddess, worry not I will supply you with the followers for your resurrection."

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