The Windworks, Zaichaer
73rd of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
73rd of Ash, Year 124 of Steel
Valencia Grey had quite a bit of leeway with regard to the legitimate government of the High City. Her cooperation with the Order was appreciated and she was accorded quite a bit of respect. Nevertheless, she stopped dead in her tracks when Watcher Lessnau begged her pardon and for a moment of her time.
"How may I help the High Sentinel today?" she asked. Her red-headed companion glanced at her for direction, but when she gave none, he turned his attention to the Watcher.
Her thoughts were sharp and focused. They were as crisp and cool as her words. She didn't seem to like anyone particularly, but she brought news via this ginger messenger for the First Minister and so she saw him as a stumbling block. Lessnau could understand that.
"He begs a brief audience with you." He indicated a nearby door.
She remembered that he had an office in the Windworks. While she had a brief image of a spider in his web in her mind, it dissipated and Lessnau couldn't fault her for it. Information was within Sentinel Angevin's purview, and it was his purpose to get it to him.
"Very well. Aurin—"
"Mr. Kavafis can join us."
"Yes, of course." She motioned to her man and he fell into step with them as they accompanied Lessnau to Angevin's office. He had offices everywhere and while she generally had an idea where on his web he was, sometimes he still surprised her. It wasn't as though she was attempting to hide information from him, but rather she wanted to take it to the correct person.
"Ms. Grey, Mr. Kavafis. Welcome." Eitan Angevin looked much as per usual. Aurin would have called him 'slick as fuck', but nobody had asked him. He was standing behind his desk, looking over papers. He looked up and smiled urbanely. "Please sit."
"It is urgent we speak to Minister Dornkirk," she said reasonably even as she took a seat and Aurin followed suit.
"The First Minister is quite busy and, from what I understand, you bring news that ought to come to me first in any case. Lessnau, would you have tea brought up, please?" The Watcher nodded.
"Sentinel," she continued, possibly even more reasonably, "I work willingly with your Order. In return, I am not subjected to unwarranted intrusion into my mind."
"Quite," he agreed. "From what I understand, you were thinking rather loudly. I will have Lessnau apologize upon his return. In the meantime," he came around the desk to sit upon the edge, "why don't you tell me what information you have brought to us. The Minister will be informed, either by you or by me. But please, help me to do my job."
She sighed. Angevin's dark eyes turned on Aurin, who was looking at him with admiration.
Angevin smiled. From what he gathered from Stefan and his own information sources, Kavafis was a fast-talker. It stood to reason he would appreciate someone who could work over someone like Valencia Grey from time to time.
"Mr. Kavafis. Our government has paid you well for your information and services. Very well. Report, please."
"Sure, Your Excellency—" He paused to check if that honorific was correct or, at least, acceptable. Angevin's mild smile remained. "Well, it was a magical issue, to be sure. I brought it to Val...encia. Ms. Grey. Because she's easier to get to than the Windworks and she knows more about magic than the likes of me."
Valencia made a noise that definitely wasn't a snort.
"In any case, long and short of it, there are places where, hm, undesirables go for a drink. I drink there because they are an untapped news source. Anyway, met an Orkhan woman passing through. Apparently found someone to break a curse upon her, though... I've never heard of a coven that deals with curses. Seems they would not be welcome." He glanced to Valencia, who shook her head. Imogen would be safe, of course, but she had to ensure that Aurin's clever, subtle curation of the truth alerted Stefan Dornkirk to certain risks without risking her people. Aurin was a loose cannon, but he was her loose cannon.
"Anyway, I'm no mind-reader like your polite friend."
The door opened. Lessnau held it for a youth who pushed a tea service for four into the room on a cart. He looked quite nervous that he would fuck up in front of the the High Sentinel and his guests, and was quite relieved when Angevin thanked him and said they would serve themselves.
"Hello, polite friend," Aurin said, waving to Lessnau, who smiled and found a seat at the wall.
"Please, help yourselves," Angevin said, indicating the service.
"Don't mind if I do," Kavafis said. "Val, you want...? Oh. Sure, ladies first. Ahh, anyway. Curse was broken. Huzzah? The way she tells it, though, part of the ritual of curse-breaking required her to go to the Void? She was fuzzy on the details there, at least the why of it. But she said the curse-breaker had help from someone or something in the Void. A sort of a woman made of darkness. Smoke and 'grasping mouths,' which paints a... less than pretty picture."
When his hands fell to his lap once more after making air quotes, he saw Valencia had her tea and fixed his.
"Ah, cheers. Anyway, she apparently asked for blood in repayment for her services. She wasn't a god, but not mortal either. Said she was trapped in the Void by a Dornkirk. I figured it could've been the beer twisting a tale taller, and I doubt young Reiner would have anything to do with a woman like that. But I imagine you and the Minister might have trapped things while protecting Zaichaer from the Rift and the Eclipse. I'm afraid that's about all I have. Might be nothing, but on the off chance it was something, I figured it was best to bring it to you. I'd rather risk being a fool than something like that getting... out..." He shuddered.
"Hm." Angevin looked thoughtfully at the tea he was fixing, then up to Lessnau when he was done. "Lessnau, tea?"
The mind-reader offered a barely perceptible nod before answering the spoken question, standing.
"Yes, please. Thank you."
"Oh, do apologize to Ms. Grey for accidentally catching her thoughts out of the air."
The Watcher paused awkwardly at the tea service.
"Ah, I do apologize, ma'am. Sometimes, when I am caught unawares, particularly focused thoughts find me without me actually seeking them out. I did not mean to invade your privacy."
"Apology accepted, Lessnau," she said; she couldn't say much else. Not being a problem for the Order was the first rule of co-existing with the Order.
The Watcher nodded graciously, then retreated back to his seat with his tea.
"Thank you, Mr. Kavafis. Ms. Grey, do you have any context to add to this matter?" He paused. "That you are willing to discuss in front of Mr. Kavafis, of course."
"This is good tea," Aurin chimed in. "But I can wait outside if you prefer."
Valencia considered Angevin, Lessnau briefly, and then Kavafis before sighing.
"I am not a party to all the Order's secrets, nor what sort of voidbegotten creatures you might have trapped rather than killing outright during the troubles. There are other beings of power that are not gods, and much of the Void is, of course, unknowable. Blood is often used as an alchemical reagent, both to bind to a physical body or as a source of life energy. This Orkhan woman had best be careful. The Vitalitasi also use a form of thaumaturgy, but they do not, as far as I know, abide in the Void."
"Die Vampire der Leere?" Angevin wrinkled his nose. "I should hope not."
Later, after he had sent them away—Stefan truly was one of the busiest of men—Eitan loosened his collar and entered his brother-in-law's office. The man wouldn't look up, of course, assuming it was Dienerin or similar. Stefan's ability to focus did astound Eitan sometimes.
Aurin Kavafis was nominally one of Stefan's assets, but if Valencia Grey and the covens allowed him into places where non-humans were speaking openly about dark curses and darker rituals to break them, he might just have to become more of a person of interest for Eitan and his Watchers.
He went to the side board, poured two tumblers two fingers each of the good stuff. That done, he moved to sit on an unoccupied corner of Stefan's desk and offer him one of the glasses.
Dienerin didn't sit on Stefan's desk so far as he knew.
It had been a full season since the strange experiments with Brenner's remains.
"Mein Schwager, we might have a problem."
