Judge Magisters

Aisha came back to the apartment to see… quite the sight. Celeste giggled evilly as she cooed loving and affectionate words to a prone Hana on her lap, mumbling incoherently as her horns and face were caressed gently.

.

"Aren't you just the cutest little succubus." Celeste grinned. "You're mine… I'm going to love you, and kiss you, and hug you, forever…"

.

Hana gasped in her sleep as Celeste uttered the phrase, squirming in her lap as she panted, helpless to do anything as warm feelings filled her unconscious mind. Celeste laughed softly at the reaction, continuing to pet and pat her, relishing every reaction she elicit from the woman.

.

"Oh! Aisha. Welcome back." Celeste smiled, as she saw the Fey girl in the doorway, looking quite confused at what she was seeing in front of her.

"What happened?" Aisha asked.

"Mmm..." Celeste giggled. "Just having a little bit of fun."

"Um... "

"I won!" Celeste said triumphantly. "I got her with a sleep spell… and while she's asleep, I can do whatever I want!"

.

Even though Celeste was giggling like a madwoman, Aisha could still see a little red appear on her cheeks as she gloated over her victory, humming to herself as she rubbed Hana's cheeks, entranced by the way that the smooth surfaces moved in her hands.

"...So what are you going to do?" Aisha asked, awkwardly.

"...Huh?" Celeste said, breaking out of her trance.

"You said you can do whatever you want." Aisha said, sliding off her boots. "So what are you going to do?"

"I... I mean..." Celeste looked down at the melted succubus resting in her thighs. "Um. I don't know."

"...You're just going to keep telling her that you love her?"

"You heard that!? W-well I don't… I d-don't actually… Idon'tactuallyloveher." Celeste mumbled unconvincingly.

.

Aisha just rolled her eyes as she climbed into bed with the two women, worming her way into Hana's arms to bury her face into the sleeping succubus's breasts and pushing their bodies close together. She closed her eyes in contentment at the heat that washed over her - the combined heat of an entire day of Celeste's and Hana's natural body warmth and… activities.

.

Aisha snuggled deeper into Hana's arms. The woman was just so… warm, and fluffy, and soft…

.

"Oh… this is the life, isn't it." Celeste sighed contently, laying down to hug Hana as well. "Just laying in bed all day, with… uh… good friends."

"Mhmmm..."

"Hey, move a little bit. I wanna try cuddling with her too."

.

Aisha raised an eyebrow, and was reluctant to leave the warmth, but there was enough heat trapped in the sheets for her to not feel cold, as she watched Celeste climb over Hana's body to hug her face to face.

.

"W-wow..." Celeste breathed out. "She's so beautiful… and warm..."

"Do you like her?" Aisha asked, spreading out on top of Celeste's tummy. "You two look like you've gotten close..."

At Aisha's words, Celeste turned red, releasing her clutch on Hana's head to turn and look at the girl with a panicked look.

"I-I-I'm not close! She's a demon! Bloodsucking, wife-stealing demon!"

"...I don't think they do ei-"

"I don't like her!" Celeste said loudly, drowning out Aisha. "I don't like her! I-I-"

.

"Oh? You don't what?" Came a husky, seductive sounding voice from Celeste's side. She paled, freezing in place as her neck began to tingle pleasantly, a reminder of what was to follow.

"M-m-m-mistress!" Celeste stammered. "Y-you're… awake!"

"I am." Hana said slowly with a smirk. "And I had a really, really, really nice dream..."

.

Celeste had no words, only panic as she sat there in the bed, arms still loosely wrapped around the very dangerous-looking succubus, giggling madly at her expression. Hana shifted into a more upright position, still with a smirk on her face, unintentionally moving Aisha and making the girl grumble unhappily.

.

"I have-" She started-

"You two are so bad at acting." Aisha moaned, grabbing her ears with her hands and pulling in frustration. "Just go to bed, pleaseee. You do this all day! I just want to go to bed."

"Wuh? Oh. Um. Sorry." Hana said sheepishly. "Ok, little Aisha. I'll let you sleep."

.

And with that, the playful mood in the air disappeared, leaving Celeste and Hana to just stare at each other awkwardly as Aisha snuggled into the gap between their navels, wrapping her arms around Celeste's tummy.

.

Both women immediately started to stare down into the bedsheets, avoiding eye contact with each other in embarrassment as they both began to pet Aisha to keep themselves occupied. Celeste gasped as their hands touched, making the mistake of looking up at Hana's face and making contact with the succubus's pink, sultry eyes.

.

"Fuck." Celeste muttered, going pink herself, as she quickly looked away.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

.

Hana wanted to press the big woman, but she decided that she wanted to let Aisha get a good night's sleep. It had been a while since she had last seen the girl…

.

.

.

"Why are you still awake!?" Celeste whispered aggressively, quickly looking away as Hana paused her petting to look at her.

"Why are you?" Hana asked back, calmly.

"I-I-I… That's not what I asked!" Celeste whispered back.

Hana rolled her eyes. "You don't have to whisper like that. Aisha's a really heavy sleeper." She said offhandedly. "And I was sleeping the entire day, remember?"

.

Celeste just looked down at her chest abashedly, realizing that she was indeed, the bringer of her own demise.

(Why did I even try that!?) She thought to herself. (What was I going to do, try to keep her asleep forever!?)

"..."

"Why can't you sleep?" Hana asked again, with a twinge of concern, looking at Celeste's tired expression.

"I-I… I can't rest, knowing that you're looking at me!"

"Why not?" Hana asked, as Celeste began to squirm under the covers, suddenly feeling squeamish under the demon's gaze.

"I-It's embarrassing!"

.

Hana giggled as she realized that Celeste was growing a little crush on her. Internally, she celebrated, resisting the urge to hop out of bed and celebrate.

.

"Okay, okay." She said, still holding back her laughter. "I'll try to get to bed if you give me a kiss." The succubus said teasingly.

"Oka- Wait, w-what!?" Celeste shrieked, looking even more embarrassed. "Why would you need that!? I-I mean, I'm n-not… I'm not going to kiss you!"

"A bedtime kiss always puts me to sleep." Hana said playfully, even though that was a complete lie. "Come on. It's not like we haven't done it before..."

"That was different!" Celeste wailed. "I was charmed! I'm not going to kiss you!"

"Hmph. Okay then." Hana said with a smile, laying on her side lazily, half-lidded, pink eyes glowing in the dark. Bedroom eyes, enticing Celeste.

.

The mage tried desperately to get to sleep, turning away from Hana, clutching her arms to her chest, but even still, she could still feel the woman's gaze on her. She couldn't help but visualize Hana's face in her head, those beautiful, warm, eyes…

.

Hana was about to give up and snuggle in with Aisha, when her face was gripped unceremoniously, and she was forced into a needy kiss with Celeste. Hana's eyes widened for a second, but soon narrowed in delight as she realized what was happening, returning the kiss with enthusiasm.

.

She was reluctant to break the kiss, but, well…

"Oooohhhh nooo!" Hana laughed, breathing heavily as she held a hand up to her forehead in mock distress. "I'm going to fall asleep! Noooooo..."

Celeste was not amused. "Hey! I- Eep!"

.

Hana wrapped her arms around Celeste's chest and pulled her close, resting her head on the mage's shoulder in a loose embrace.

.

Celeste opened her mouth to protest, but well… she was so tired, and... at least she wasn't watching her.

And she couldn't deny that… everything felt good.

.

.

.

[

Lorian hummed in pure happiness as she held Aisha in her arms, face buried into the top of Aisha's head, like always. She cooed softly as she felt Aisha nuzzle into her chest, reaching up a hand to stroke Aisha's head in return. She giggled as she felt the girl shudder into her breast, and began to pet her even more.

.

"Wwww-wait." Aisha stammered from below, voice going shaky as pleasure flooded through her body. "M-mmisstress!"

"Does it feel too good?" Lorian teased. "Well, that's too bad!"

.

Lorian grinned as she continued her assault on Aisha's head, every stroke reverberating through Aisha in a wave of shivers down the girl's body. Aisha pressed her eyes shut and squeezed one of Lorian's legs in hers as fluffy feelings spread all through her body, unconsciously making her face morph into a blissed-out, dopey smile.

.

"I-I'm serioussss!" Aisha slurred, blushing intensely. "I-I I I I need to aaa-aaaask you somethIIIIINGG!!"

.

Lorian pouted as she laid her hand flat on Aisha's head, leaving only a distracting tingle, but still threatening to melt Aisha's little head with love and pleasant feelings.

"Okay, okay." She said in a fake-disappointed tone. "What do you want to ask me?"

Aisha popped out her head from below the covers, face uncertain and cheeks pink. Her words came out in an uncertain drawl.

"Eeeeeeuuuummm..." She muttered. "Why… why do you like to pet me so much?"

"Oh Aisha." Lorian sighed. "You ask me this same question every week."

Aisha turned bright red. "I-I-I know! I-I-I'm sorry. I'll just… stop. I'm… sorry for being annoying."

"You could never be annoying to me." Lorian smiled, planting a little kiss on Aisha's forehead. "It's okay. I'll answer your questions as many times as you want."

"I-It's that!" Aisha stammered. "Why don't you ever get mad at me? Why don't you think I'm annoying? Why do y-you-you like petting me so much?"

.

Lorian smiled and stroked Aisha's ear a single time, giggling at the little "Eep!" The girl let out.

"Well, do you like it?" She asked.

.

Aisha just stared with uncertainty at her mistress for a bit, still pink in the face, before finally letting out a small "yes."

"That's why!" Lorian beamed.

"You like to pet me because I like it?" Aisha asked.

"Well, yeah!" Lorian said sweetly. "If you're happy, that makes me happy."

.

Aisha met Lorian's loving, affectionate gaze, half lidded with lazy pleasure, and couldn't help but look away, embarrassed at having such feelings directed towards her.

"But.. why?" She whispered. "Why are you happy when I'm happy?"

Lorian absolutely beamed with happiness, shining a loving radiance that Aisha found difficult to look directly at. Lorian looked like she was going to say something, and Aisha felt equal parts dread and excitement enter her chest at Lorian's happy expression

"Because I love you!"

.

Aisha felt her heart explode with affection and love and happiness, and her entire body felt weak as her head filled with fluff and melty, lovey-dovey goodness. Her ears went droopy, and she hugged her mistress closer as she whimpered in submissive pleasure and affection, as her brain processed what Lorian had just said to her. Aisha wanted more of her mistress. She wished she could have her hug her from the front and the back - however that would work - Aisha just knew that she wanted to be with her mistress forever, because she just made her feel so good.

(That phrase is dangerous!) She thought in a panic. (How can she… make me feel like this with just three words? Aaaahhh… she's so beautiful and warm and amazing and nice and cuddly and soft-)

.

"Aisha?" Lorian asked with a concerned expression, at Aisha's steaming face. The fey in question snapped out of her submissive trance at the words, shaking her head and looking down in embarrassment.

"Uwuh… um… sorry. Mistress." Aisha muttered. "Ijust… Iwuhblmmmnnn… Why… do you l-l… lo-lo… looo… l-love me?"

"Ummm..." Lorian put a finger on her bottom lip and looked up, deep in thought. "I dunno. I just… know that I do. Because when you're happy, I just can't feel but feel happy too. And when you look all sad, I want to make you feel better. And it makes me sad too."

"But… why?" Aisha whispered.

.

Lorian gave Aisha a lopsided smile and pushed Aisha's head back into her cleavage, petting Aisha's sensitive ears, melting any remaining questions that she had.

.

Well, at least for the next week.

]

.

.

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Aisha woke up to a suffocating warmth, like so many nights, but something was… different. Unpleasant.

.

She realized that it wasn't just the heat was suffocating - her mouth and nose were physically being blocked from air, being squished by… something. Aisha thrashed under the covers, arms straining as she attempted to force herself out of the covers, trying desperately to find an opening to fresh air. After a bit, Aisha broke out of the hellish prison of bodies and took a deep breath, looking down at the bed.

.

It looked like Celeste had rolled over her in her sleep. Aisha glared at her. Not the kind of squeezing that she liked.

.

Well, actually, no. She was lying. She loved all types of squeezing, but she did enjoy living.

.

Aisha yawned as she rubbed a bit of the sleep out of her eyes, gazing down at the two women in bed with her. They were locked in a tight, intimate looking embrace, and they quickly closed the gap between them that Aisha had left.

.

Aisha was glad that they were getting along. She liked both of them. Hana had that nice, playful quality to her, and Celeste had that more matronly, caring personality…

.

She sighed. She still was nowhere near as happy as she was when she was with mistress, even with two women. Mistress was just so warm, and she took care of her, and always loved Aisha, no matter how stupid she was.

.

Aisha sighed as a familiar feeling of grief filled her heart, wishing so badly that she could turn around and see her mistress, smiling at her from on top of the bed, inviting her in for pets and cuddles and loving words. But she knew better.

Aisha hopped out of bed, setting her mind on nowhere in general.

.

.

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"Why are you back." Raxas said, staring unhappily at Aisha, still rotating back and forth in his swivel chair, swaying back and forth on the accursed instrument. The thought of replacing the chair flitted across his mind, but...

.

It had been a real pain to get it into his office.

.

"I'm bored." Aisha said simply. "Have any jobs?"

"I have jobs, but I can't raise your rank for just delivering stuff to people." He sighed, placing a sheet of paper onto a stack on his right, replacing it promptly with a paper from his left.

"Where's the rest of your lackeys?" Aisha asked. "Are they on jobs?"

"No, I usually do them myself. Falo has a family to attend to. Aless and Two have… lives ."

.

"Unlike you." He said, staring directly at Aisha, who didn't meet his gaze back, instead vying to look at a little painting on Raxas's wall.

"Don't you have a family?" Aisha asked absentmindedly.

"..."

"They're like your family, right?" She said, still staring intently at the painting. "Is that a fox, or a wolf?"

"It's supposed to be up to interpretation." The man replied, ignoring Aisha's first comment. "And I'm surprised."

"Surprised at what?"

"How bored you are."

"I am bored." Aisha repeated.

"Then go deliver this to Vayne." He said, sliding a little envelope to the edge of his desk. "She... You are opening it. You are reading the letter."

"If you didn't want me to read it, you should have sealed the envelope."

"It was sealed."

"I couldn't tell."

.

Raxas just buried his face into his hands as Aisha read the contents of the letter, eyes squinting in concentration.

.

"You're not going to join Vayne for brunch?"

"No. I'm not."

"..."

"Get going!"

.

Aisha stuck her tongue out as she placed both her hands on the armrests of the chair, preparing to get up, when the door to Raxas's office opened, revealing a stern-looking woman with white hair. Aisha couldn't quite place the feeling, but she thought that she had seen the woman before…

.

"Eleanora." Raxas sighed.

"It's Vayne, James." The woman replied in an aristocratic lilt, turning her cold gaze onto Aisha. "Who's this?"

.

Aisha wordlessly held out the letter in her hand to the woman, who took it gingerly with a gauntlet-clad hand. She didn't even bother reading it, instead stuffing it into her coat.

.

"Aren't you… that fey girl?" She said, realization coming to her mind. "Quite a small world, isn't it."

"How old are you?" Aisha blurted out.

Vayne's eyes narrowed. "That's a very rude thing to ask of a lady."

"You look a little young to have white hair." Aisha observed.

.

Aisha stared at the woman's face, untouched by wrinkles, but marred by the scowl and cold expression she had, as well as the mane of white, silky hair, kept in a neat braid.

"You look a little young to have such little manners." She said back. "I assure you, I am at the proper age for this shade of-"

"She's 81." Raxas interjected, tapping on his desk with a pen, absentmindedly.

Vayne scoffed. "Rude."

.

Raxas sighed as he started to rotate in his swivel chair slightly from side to side, forcing Vayne to turn her head to make eye contact in an annoying manner.

"Why are you here, Eleanora?" He asked, metal armor creaking.

"For brunch." Vayne said curtly. "I've come to get you."

"I don't remember agreeing to do that."

"I don't remember ever asking you."

.

Raxas gave Vayne a hard gaze, the two staring at each other in a battle of silent will. The pressure in the room was palpable, even to Aisha, who decided to keep silent while the two judge magisters spoke.

"I insist, James." Vayne said, slowly. "It is rude to keep a lady waiting. Additionally, we have things to discuss."

.

Raxas's eyes narrowed.

"Fine." He muttered. "Don't eat anything in my office while I'm gone."

"Excuse me!?"

"I wasn't talking to you."

.

Raxas slid out of his chair and stood up straight, showing off his towering form and ornate armor. He placed on his helmet, shaped like a lion's mane, hard blue eyes glowing slightly through the visor, and started to leave the room, pushing his chair into the desk. Vayne followed in suit with her tall, fluted helmet and waited for Raxas to exit before shutting the door behind her.

.

Aisha was alone in the little office, and she sighed, putting back the pen she had taken from her employer's desk.

(What do I do now?)

.

.

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Aisha sighed as she walked through the streets of the capital, staring aimlessly at storefronts that she knew she wasn't going to enter. She had… mixed feelings about her new job. It would be useful to have Raxas as an ally, and the jobs were probably comparable in speed to doing regular contracts, but she didn't know if she could take the boredom that came between jobs. Without her single minded pursuit of prestige, Aisha just had… no purpose.

.

Her logical mind told her to keep working for Raxas. It told her that she should just find a hobby.

.

(Fuck, I hate waitin-)

.

Aisha's ears twitched as she picked up the sound of excited giggling from across the street. "It's her! It's her!"

She waited, and lo and behold, the faces of two excited looking girls appeared in her vision, smiling and giggling at Aisha's tired expression.

.

"Oh my gosh!" One of them said. "It's really her! Mrs. Machine-"

(Missus?)

"-I've seen you at the guild so many times, but we've..."

.

The girls looked at each other and giggled.

"We've never… had the opportunity to really speak with you! Oh my gosh she's even cuter up close!"

.

Aisha stared at the chests of the two girls, spotting the silver glint of the little plates on their necks, with big I's engraved on them.

"You two are from the guild?" Aisha asked.

"Yeah!" The two girl giggled. "You're the machine, right!?"

"Ugh… that name sounds kind of stupid..." Aisha said, scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. At first, she had been kind of excited to have a nickname, but it quickly lost it's flair once Aisha realized that it was… kind of stupid. But clearly, the girls disagreed.

.

"We think it's cool!" The two girls chorused.

"Oh. Thanks."

One of the girls smiled, reaching for Aisha's hand. "Well, we were just-"

"How do you do it?" One of the girls interjected in excitement, interrupting her friend.

"Do what?"

"How'd you get to platinum with no magic?"

.

Aisha winced at the close proximity that one of the girls made with her, uncomfortably close, even for the normally affectionate girl.

"I… just..."

.

She just… what? Worked hard..? Not really…

.

How had she been doing the contracts? Well...

.

"Uhhmmm… "

"It's okay!" The two girls giggled. "If you don't want to give up your secrets, that's a-okay with us!"

"Oh. Okay." Aisha sighed.

"Can we get a hug?" The girls requested, still smiling giddily.

"Uh, sure."

.

The two girls got in close on each side of her, and for the first time in her life, Aisha felt awkward when both of the girls wrapped their petite bodies around Aisha, squealing in excitement at being able to hug the local celebrity. Unlike being smooshed in the arms of a big-breasted woman, being hugged by girls her size was…

.

It was kind of embarrassing. Aisha broke out of the hug after she had felt like ample time had passed, and she quickly hurried along her way, much to the disappointment of the two girls.

.

She walked for a couple seconds before she felt a hand grabbing her arm, blinking, freezing in the middle of her step and slowly turning to see who it was.

"Enjoying the attention?" Amir asked, as he let Aisha's arm go.

"Not particularly." She muttered back. "Why are you here?"

"I'm just here to check up on you." Amir answered.

"What do you mean?" Aisha asked. "I've been here the past few days."

Amir nodded. "Exactly. Why aren't you on a contract?"

"I have a job now."

.

Amir's eyes narrowed as his expression shifted to reflect the storm of emotions bubbling inside. Aisha could read mostly disappointment, but there was a twinge of resentment and sadness as well, as Amir's normally stoic expression grew… displeased.

.

"You gave up." Amir said in a low voice, glaring sadly at the short girl. He sighed and rubbed his forehead with a hand, and was about to turn away, before Aisha quickly corrected herself.

"No!" Aisha said, hastily. "I'm working for the guild guy! He gives me contracts now."

.

Amir's expression slowly softened as he turned back around, his gaze still stoic and stern, but no longer having that disappointed dullness that Aisha hated to see. "I see... Who's this... guild guy?"

"The… guy from the contract you gave me." Aisha said, racking her memory for his name… his name… "Uhh… Barack or something."

.

Amir was completely silent.

"...Raxas?" He offered.

"Yeah, sure."

"The judge magister!?"

"I think he said something like that." Aisha muttered, scratching the back of her neck.

Amir shook his head. "Never thought it would be that high-ranking… Well, I suppose I should congratulate you."

"It's not that great of a thing." Aisha muttered.

The bronze-skinned man raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Not that great!? You work under one of the most powerful men in the country!"

"I've yet to see the benefits." Aisha muttered.

"Getting exclusive contracts is already a big benefit." Amir pointed out. "He wants to keep you alive, so he's never going to give you anything too dangerous."

Aisha looked down at her chest and sighed, relenting. "Yeah. It's just a little boring."

"Train."

"That doesn't help."

"Don't be so arrogant. You need to train."

"Train what?"

"Strength." Amir suggested.

"That doesn't help." Aisha sighed. "No matter how hard I try, I don't get any stronger. I don't think I can."

"Why not?"

"I didn't get this strength by training normally. Now, I don't think normal training will help."

"...Okay. Well, train your shooting skills."

"I don't really have a place where I can fire the crossbow."

"Do martial arts."

.

Aisha bit her lip, racking her brain for an excuse, but she couldn't really find a good enough reason.

"..."

"You're thinking of an excuse." Amir said, flatly.

"...I..."

"You're just lazy." He sighed. "We're in the capital. There are plenty of swordsmen, or martial artists. Go train. It might come in handy."

"..."

.

.

.

Vayne led Raxas through the lower layers of the city and towards the posh, white looking estates in the higher-class portion of the capital. Vayne couldn't see inside his helmet, but inside, Raxas scowled at the pristine, pretentious looking buildings. Vayne made her way towards a massive mansion with a green tint scattered around the white marble, which Raxas recognized as the woman's estate.

.

She opened the door for him and he stepped in, to see two other armored judge magisters, sitting at a dining table, looking very bored.

.

"This isn't brunch." He muttered.

"No, it isn't." Vayne said curtly, shutting the door behind her. "We have matters to discuss."

"Finally here, huh Raxas?" An impish voice sounded, as one of the judges turned to Raxas, his helmet making an unpleasant creaking noise, almost as annoying as the man's voice. His helmet was thin, jagged edges running parallel to the visors of the helmet.

"We've been waiting." The other judge sounded, his voice coming out gravelly and coarse. His helmet, in contrast to the others', looked unfinished, with mixes of jagged and lumpy spots, although the helmet was symmetrical, and had the same outlines and finishes as the others.

"We thought you'd be a no-show." He said, laughing a grating, harsh laugh.

.

"Gazeth." He greeted stiffly, addressing the man who had spoken. "Twitch."

"Don't call me twitch!" The squeaky-voiced man demanded in an angry tone. "You know it's Tylich, James!"

"Don't call me that." Raxas muttered, taking a seat as far away from the two as possible, Vayne taking a seat across from him.

.

"Why isn't Havel here?" Raxas asked. "She was here the last time."

"That's the thing." Vayne sighed. "She's joined the side of the church."

"WHAT!?" Raxas erupted. "How could this have happened!?"

"This is displeasing." Gazeth grumbled.

"Damn, she was the only good-looking one out of you losers." Tylich remarked off-handedly. "I was kind of only here so that I could get in her-"

.

"Shut up, Twitch." Raxas growled, as Vayne shot the thin man a glare. Tylich held up his hands defensively, although everybody could sense he was not apologetic in the least, by the way he leaned back in one of Vayne's fancy chairs, kicking up his feet disrespectfully.

.

"This makes it four to four." Raxas said in displeasure. "Thankfully, decisions rely on a majority."

"It's just a matter of time." Gazeth rumbled. "Sooner or later, the church will realize that Tylich would be willing to betray us for a single wench."

"I'll have you know that I'm not that easily bought out." Tylich snapped back. "I can get any woman I want." He said unpleasantly.

"Not a church girl." Gazeth sighed, but instead of coming out smooth, the breath came out wheezing and… grating.

"Hmph."

.

"Enough!" Vayne said sternly. "We have more difficult issues to address! Without Havel's support, we can't pass any laws, or make any moves! We cannot mobilize the guard to deal with Nepenthe, and we can't withdraw out of Kalamina either!"

"I'm sure Havel would still be willing to help us." Raxas suggested.

"You've seen what has happened to the rest." Vayne said. "They have unquestioning loyalty to the church. They're brainwashed. Havel will not be supporting us."

"Maybe Havel's different." Raxas said. "The rest already hated us before the conversion."

"I hate you and I'm not converted." Tylich quipped, to be ignored by the rest of the judges at the table.

"It's worth a try." Vayne mused. "But at the same time, we need a course of action. We cannot continue to fight in Kalamina, but Ifrit would never let us pull out and return the army to the capital."

"He's going to make sure they never come back." Raxas groaned, letting out a sharp breath. "Dead or alive. Using lives like that… How disgusting."

.

"You do that too." Tylich responded. "Is that not what we do? Decide on a whim to change lives? Aren't they doing the same thing? Stubbornly insisting that their way of using lives is better than ours?"

"We're different." Raxas growled. "We're right."

"How so?"

Raxas's arms tensed as he braced himself on the chair, ready to leap out and assault the impish man, but before he could, another voice sounded.

.

"Shut up, Tylich." Gazeth rasped out.

Tylich cackled. "Oh, the rock speaks! It's a divine miracle! Praise Ifri-"

"You're annoying." Gazeth grated. "Everything about you. Your voice, demeanor-"

"How scathing." Tylich said smugly. "Your voice isn't too pretty either. How's your throat do-"

"Shut up." Gazeth growled.

"What, sensitive about your injury?" Tylich goaded. "Sensi-"

"SHUT UP!" Gazeth roared, standing up straight and launching his chair scattering to the ground. Vayne glared at the tipped over furniture. "OR I'LL MAKE YOU!"

Tylich stood up straight too, but eagerly, as if he had been waiting for the opportunity. "I'd like to see you try."

"Take it outside." Vayne said curtly, as Gazeth stormed out the back door, Tylich following soon after.

.

Raxas watched the two walk out the door, and soon got up himself, walking over to Vayne.

"You're not going to stop them?" He asked.

"Havel's the one who stops them." Vayne said flatly. "I assumed you would take up her duties."

"Why is that?"

"Because you have the kindest heart." She said, turning her head to meet Raxas's eyes, stormy grey eyes meeting hard blue ones. For a uncomfortable second, they shared eye contact, both silent as a unspoken message was sent between the two of them.

"Besides, if they tear each other apart, it is no loss to me." Vayne added, after a tense few seconds.

"We still need them."

"Indeed, we do."

.

Vayne sighed as she rose from her chair and made her way to the backyard patio door, opening it for Raxas before exiting herself.