After learning everything she could, Ais hadn't uncovered any additional leads, so she resigned herself to waiting for the night's anomaly to appear. But she hadn't forgotten that when she'd left at midday, she'd told Zoe Freya she was only coming here to try her luck. She'd need to think of a plausible reason to explain why she'd happened to succeed with a commission that had turned away multiple other detectives.
Telling Zoe she was an Extraordinary would do more harm than good. If the Witch cult ever found her again, that knowledge could put her friend at risk. Ais's earlier request that Zoe not mention her new friend to others had partly been with this in mind.
Since Leel Femi was someone who had almost no use for written correspondence, he couldn't answer Ais's question. So she temporarily left his room, obtained stamps and writing paper from Mia Dalton, and was told she could simply hand the letter to a servant.
Apparently I still have much to learn about how wealthy people live. Ais took her materials to one of the guest rooms on the ground floor and sat down to consider how to tell a convincing half-truth.
"Why is it that the method with the best effect keeps coming back to writing something vague from a woman's perspective, then letting Zoe fill in the blanks herself?"
Ais was a little disgruntled about it. She was well aware this wasn't exactly a serious matter compared to what could be done to her, but she still felt uncomfortable. Every time she did something like this, she felt herself drifting a little further down a road she didn't want to be on.
But I already have a best friend, so getting worked up over this seems pointless now. She thought about how she'd already gotten quite used to wearing a nightgown after just a few days at Zoe's place. That settled it — she drafted the misdirection without further deliberation and quickly had the note written.
The handwriting is decent enough, at least. Having confirmed that the Witch's charm did not improve one's Ruenish penmanship, Ais used divination to confirm that Leel hadn't been lying earlier.
She handed Zoe's letter to the appropriate servant, then went back upstairs to Leel's room without delay and began her formal study of Ancient Hermes.
By the time the two went downstairs to have afternoon tea with Mrs. Dalton, the mistress was surprised to find the formalities of address had quietly disappeared between them. Leel made no attempt to hide the conversation they'd just had from his mother, and Mrs. Dalton — though she still had some reservations — was genuinely pleased that her son had made a first friend.
Since the afternoon tea was served in the garden behind the Femi house, with servants passing through periodically, Ais set aside the lessons and picked up a bestselling novel instead, intending to sample the kind of fiction this world produced.
As it turned out, both mother and son ended up talking to Ais considerably more than to each other. Being a former Instigator, she managed not only to keep the conversation going but to naturally draw both of them into it with well-placed questions.
So when the afternoon tea was over, Ais received a note of thanks from Leel:
"Thank you so much, Ais — detective. This was probably the most enjoyable conversation my mother and I have had."
"You're welcome. And if you want to change that pattern, Leel, I sincerely recommend leaning on your mother more. Even at your age, trust me — no mother can resist her own son's need for affection. Especially given how much leverage you have."
After delivering that advice with full sincerity, she watched Leel shaking his head vigorously like a rattle drum and couldn't help laughing.
Early evening, though Ais had heard the carriage from a distance, she waited until Mrs. Dalton opened the door and embraced her returning husband before coming downstairs with Leel. Leel's father turned out to be a blond, brown-eyed man of middle age with a gentle smile — slightly balding, but otherwise he and Leel did look quite alike.
The husband and wife hadn't yet noticed Ais and Leel on the second floor and were greeting each other:
"Welcome home, Mr. Owen."
"Of course, my dear Mrs. Mia. As someone who leaves exactly on time, whatever difficulties arose at work today weren't mine to worry about."
They've been married for at least twenty years, and they still talk to each other like this. Ais was still contemplating this when Leel's voice came beside her:
"Ais — this is my father, Owen Femi. An excellent steam machinist."
Only then did Owen notice his son on the second floor — and the unfamiliar woman standing beside him.
"Leel, who is this?"
Mrs. Dalton separated from her husband and introduced Ais and the afternoon's events. Owen's expression as he listened prompted a clear private reaction from Ais.
Sir, that look on your face is very much the look of a man watching a pig nose its way toward his prized cabbages. The more she looked at it, the more certain she was. So after going downstairs and exchanging a few pleasantries, she tactfully excused herself back to the guest room, leaving the family to their reunion.
"So, son — you only just met this detective today, and you're already this close?"
"Dad, don't worry. Ais — the detective — is a wonderful friend."
Despite the Femi family keeping their voices lowered, with three rounds of enhancement behind her, Ais had no trouble overhearing. Under different circumstances the exchange would have been entirely ordinary. But right now, Ais kept finding it progressively more off-note with every line. She quickly redirected her attention and let the conversation fade.
Just as she was about to lie down for a while before the evening, a maidservant knocked on the guest room door. Ais opened it to find the maid presenting a complete set of sleepwear — sized to fit even her.
Mrs. Dalton is quite thoughtful. After thanking the maid, Ais gave her silent approval. Given the Femi family's heights were all quite average, this was almost certainly a purchase made specially.
Ais spent the rest of the time lying on the bed in meditation, keeping her attention focused enough to avoid accidentally overhearing the Femis' conversations, while waiting to see what had been troubling this family for so long.
Deep in the night, just when Ais was so bored she was considering giving up and sleeping — her intuition suddenly triggered. She sat up quickly and silently, merged into the darkness, and moved to stand behind the door.
When everyone else had gone to sleep, she'd already pushed the guest room door open halfway, leaving a gap wide enough to slip through sideways.
Her heightened Witch's intuition told her that something unfamiliar had just entered the house — and that her movements hadn't disturbed whatever it was. It remained present in her awareness.
Confirming her unaided eyes detected nothing strange, Ais activated Aura Vision. She immediately saw two dense, pitch-black clusters of spiritual energy that had not been in the sitting room before.
Neither entity had a human shape, but neither drifted through the air the way a ghost would. They moved flat against the floor, gliding around the sitting room in what appeared to be aimless wandering.
After observing the two formless entities, Ais considered briefly, then dropped her Shadow Concealment. She stood up, pulled the guest room door wide open, and rubbed her eyes — playing the part of someone who had simply woken in the middle of the night.
The moment she moved, both entities noticed. Their apparently purposeless drifting immediately gave way to directed movement toward her.
So the injured servants were their doing — and apparently they can't tell ordinary people from Extraordinaries. Ais noted this while walking out, yawning.
Since the servants had only been injured before — nothing worse — and she had three mirror doubles at the ready, Ais let the two entities approach.
When they'd closed to a sufficient distance, they finally changed their behavior. Their shadowy forms extended pitch-black tendrils that wound around Ais's legs.
Author's Note (this chapter):Telling Zoe she was an Extraordinary would do more harm than good. If the Witch cult ever found her again, that knowledge could put her friend at risk. Ais's earlier request that Zoe not mention her new friend to others had partly been with this in mind.
A Witch is a symbol of disaster — destined to struggle to find the peace she wants. ·