Chapter 41: Tea with Lust
Seyari and I exited the bathroom and walked back toward the kitchen. When we got there, Isidore was sitting at a table by a wide bay window which overlooked the front garden. He had a large book in front of him which he read with rapt attention. Lilly was, of all things, knitting quietly next to him.
In the center of the table was a tray of small, sugar dusted cakes next to a bowl of fresh Navanaean fruit. Four plates had been set. Crumbs were left on Lilly’s plate, and Isidore’s plate had a tea cake with a single bite taken out.
Lilly looked up as we entered. “Did you two have a nice soak?” She noticed my dress and her eyes sparkled. “Oh my! What a lovely dress, Zarenna—it really shows off your curves. Seyari’s one lucky girl to have you!”
“Thank you, Lilly.” I blushed deep crimson and took a seat. “I’m lucky to have Seyari, if I’m being honest.”
Lilly smiled and put her knitting down, grabbing a fruit I didn’t recognize. No durians in the bowl, but that was just as well for their smell. Seyari took the seat next to me and gave me a pointed look. She had a change of travel clothes on.
Lilly poured us both cups of tea from a pitcher. I took a sip, finding the black tea to be pleasantly fruity. On top of that, it was chilled and sweet.
“Lilly, do you mind if we ask you about the town here?” I opened.
“Not at all! Ask me anything you want about Sandmeadow.”
Ouch, that name! Can’t say it isn’t accurate, though.
“Why does Sandmeadow look like an Ordian village got lost and ended up in the desert?” I asked.
Lilly answered easily. “Oh, that’s because the people here are mostly from Ordia.”
“How did you all get here? How did you build this?” I used all my arms to gesture around us and to the town visible out the window.
“Most people came at once by boat and caravan. Others have joined over the years. We built Sandmeadow by trading for materials—in secret of course—and with magic.”
I chose to ask the riskiest question next. “What is the purpose of the spell over the entire town?”
Lilly put a finger to her chin. “Hmm, that one’s a little complex. Basically, it keeps the folk here from thinking of demons as abnormal.”
“How so?” Seyari interjected.
“They see demonic traits as just those of a different kind of folk, one that is familiar. Frankly, I’m impressed with my own spell work since Zarenna here didn’t get funny looks.” Lilly seemed all too happy to explain.
“Any mental compulsion?” I asked.
Lilly frowned and sighed. “Well, I suppose I should have seen that question coming. Yes, a smidgen? Everyone here is aware we’re in the Navanaean desert and our idyllic life is a result of remaining secret, but I make it so people who want to leave come to me first.”
“What do you do when someone wants to leave?” Seyari asked.
“I let them leave?” Lilly made her answer a question. “The journey isn’t easy, and few want to make it, but we’ve had plenty of people leave Sandmeadow. Oh, and I don’t kill them, but I do mess with their memories of this place so they can’t give away where it is.”
“If they remember this place, won’t they tell people about it, even if they don’t know where it is?” My girlfriend asked.
“Some do,” Lillith shrugged.
“What happens to them?” I asked with concern.
“We discredit the rumor or the person who spread it. This place sounds like an unbelievable conspiracy to most anyone.”
“Do you silence anyone?” I asked.
“Yep! It’s pretty rare though,” Lilly frowned. “Could we talk about something else now?”
Lilly was definitely creepy and a more than a little twisted. At the very least she seemed sincere. I felt like she was leaving some pieces out, but if what she said was true, then she could be worse. Not like I’d be able to stand up to her right now. I’d need to talk to the townspeople before I left and verify what Lilly claimed.
“We can,” I consented after a long pause. “I apologize for any rudeness. I am simply pleasantly surprised by the lifestyle of my fellow Sovereign.”
I tried my best to sound formal. Lilly seemed mollified at least. All throughout the conversation, Isidore kept reading what looked to be a dense text. The only evidence of any other activity being a second bite out of his tea cake. I took one for myself and another for Seyari who hadn’t quite managed to stop scowling.
“To be honest, I’m also pleasantly surprised, Sovereign of Wrath,” Lilly addressed me. “Your predecessor was, hmm, much less amenable to polite conversation.”
“She means the last Sovereign of Wrath tried to rip her head off when they first met,” Isidore spoke up unexpectedly.
Lilly sputtered and coughed, nearly choking on her tea. “Yes, well. Uh-hum! It’s a pleasure to have you two as guests.”
I thought a moment and grabbed a second tea cake. The first one had disappeared quickly under mysterious circumstances.
“Why did you want to meet with us?” I asked.
“I wanted get to know you! It isn’t every day a new Sovereign shows up somewhere, especially without announcing their arrival in some cataclysmic fashion.”
“She wanted to see if you’d be an ally or an enemy,” Isidore deadpanned.
“Honey, do you have to be so blunt about it!?” Lilly said with a hint of panic.
Isidore looked up from the book at Lilly, over at Seyari, and then back to Lilly. My girlfriend was busy trying to stare a hole into the table while scowling. I reached down and squeezed her hand reassuringly.
“You can be open with us, Lilly,” I said.
Lilly nodded. “Okay. Well, I’m not the most popular of the Six Sovereigns, so having an ally would be a big help! Plus, you’ll get to have me as an ally when you get dragged into the others’ politics!”
“Six Sovereigns?” I grabbed some fruit to offset the cakes.
“Oh. OH! You’re really new, aren’t you?” Lilly tilted her head. “Okay, so there’s up to six Sovereign demons. Right now, there’s me, you, Conceit, Avarice, Apathy, and maybe Envy.” She tallied them off on her fingers.
Seyari perked up a bit. “What makes a Sovereign demon?”
Lilly gave a rapid-fire explanation. “It’s like a title, passed down from demon to demon. Usually by a demon challenging and killing the current Sovereign. I thought that was how you got the title, Zarenna, but I guess that’s not it? Anyway, Sovereign demons are like a ruler over all the demons of their particular aspect and we can’t be made subservient to anyone else. Don’t know why that is, but it means that Utraxia won’t be able to get me under her thumb, so I’m happy about that at least.”
Well, that solves mystery of why I couldn’t be bound. I wondered if that was also why Verrux seemed deferential toward me.
“Utraxia?” I inclined my head.
Lilly looked like she’d bitten a lemon. “Sovereign of Conceit. Ice queen who lives in a literal ice palace. Or cold rock. Close enough anyway. We’ve never gotten along and I don’t want to talk about her!”
Oh. “Can demons tell if another demon is a Sovereign?”
“Oh yeah, easy! Besides the gem on our bodies, any demon would know just by looking at your aura, unless you hide it. I’ve heard its more difficult for non-demons to tell, but I don’t know why that is. Go ahead and look at my aura!” Lilly puffed out her modest chest.
I obliged and looked at her aura. Lilly’s aura was massive. An ocean of bright pink swirling out from a distinct dark pink orb in the center. I looked for a demon-y texture, but couldn’t find one. I turned my aura sight off and blinked away at the spots in my vision.
“Is it the pink orb at the center of your aura?” I asked.
“Got it in one!” Lilly smiled. “Mine’s pink and yours is red.” She pointed to where my gem rested at the center of the symbol on my chest.
“Can I see your gem?” I asked.
Lilly blushed furiously. “Uh, well, you see…Mine’s not in the same place.”
“Oh.” I clapped my mouth shut and quickly took a sip of tea. “Sorry for asking.”
“It’s fine.” Lilly waved it off.
“Do you know what Zarenna’s symbol is? The one around her gem?” Seyari broke her silence.
Lilly put a finger on her chin. “Kinda? It’s a religious symbol for some ancient order of demons that’s long gone. Some mortals made cults around it even after the Lost Era. I think there was a Sovereign of Wrath before my time who had the same mark.”
Seyari nodded. “Do you know anything else?”
Isidore spoke up. “I know it is often attributed to greater demons following an ancient sect. The vortex represents the pull of the demonic realm from the void and the starburst the six major demonic aspects. Your variation in particular shows the aspects triumphing over the demonic realm’s influence based on the relative size of the overlaid symbols. A single enlarged point of the starburst likely represents your aspect of wrath. Were I to hazard a guess, I would imagine you are a terrestrial demon, which is highly unusual.”
Seyari’s jaw dropped open.
“What? What does all that mean?” I managed to ask.
“It means I am going shopping for dinner because Izzy is going to drag you two off to talk about the souls and the planes until the sun goes down,” Lilly interjected peppily, then looked to the two of us with mock concern. “Good luck you two.”
Lilly bounced up from her seat, grabbed a basket off the counter and bounded out the front door.
Isidore sighed and closed his tome. “It may be best to have this conversation in the living room. That is, assuming you want to.”
“I do,” Seyari and I replied at the same time.
Isidore nodded and picked up his plate with the mostly finished teacake. I grabbed a handful of fruit and one more cake. Seyari took some snacks for herself, too. We carried our tea and food and followed Isidore into the other room.
All this time we’d looked for any sort of answer, and Isidore seemed to know most of what puzzled me and Seyari both. I sank into a plush chair that had a trench for a tail (way too small for mine, but still highly appreciated) with a smile on my face.
Seyari wore a look of nervous anticipation, but I could see a hardness in her eyes. She didn’t trust Isidore. I realized I had no reason to either. I tempered my expectations as best I could.
Isidore set his plate and book down carefully by a large, comfy looking chair he took as his own. He sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose before he began.