"Waaaaah! How could you treat me like this?! No matter how you look at it, I've worked myself to the bone for so long! I've made huge contributions to this organization—you can't just hang me on a hook like a piece of salted meat!"
By the time Jeanne finally unhooked her, three full hours had elapsed. Having finished her lunch and returned to the office, Jeanne realized she and Kal'tsit had gotten so swept up in their conversation that they had completely forgotten the suspended strategist.
The moment her boots hit the floor, the Doctor lunged forward and locked her arms around Jeanne's leg, refusing to let go while burying her face against the fabric. Anyone unacquainted with her true identity might have assumed she was taking shameless physical liberties.
"Cry all you want, but throwing a tantrum at me isn't going to achieve anything! If you have a grievance, go complain to Kal'tsit about how ruthless she is. I don't run things on Rhodes Island!"
Jeanne scratched her head in exasperation, staring down at the clinging creature anchored to her leg like a stubborn octopus. She briefly pondered what non-lethal maneuver might pry the strategist off her boots.
"As if I could ever win an argument against her! I'm just a frail, defenceless woman! No matter which way you slice it, I'm no match for that zombie-faced warden. Is this not utterly tragic?!"
The Doctor put on a heart-wrenching display of sorrow, painting a picture as though her entire life aboard the landship was a non-stop gauntlet of agonizing hardship whenever Jeanne wasn't around.
"Let me ask you something. When you decided to send all those messages to Kal'tsit... what on Terra were you actually thinking?" Having finally seized an opening to peel the strategist off her leg, Jeanne shoved her into a nearby chair.
Leaning in close, Jeanne looked her dead in the eye and posed the fundamental question.
You knew full well she would retaliate. You knew exactly what kind of hell would break loose once she read those logs. Why on earth did you do it?
Flustered by Jeanne leaning so close, the Doctor shrank back into her collar, fidgeting nervously before muttering her justification under her breath.
"Because... because it was thrilling!"
"Huh? What did you just say?"
Jeanne froze, utterly dumbfounded. Had the strategist just spoken a dialect of mortal language, or had her hearing suddenly failed her?
"I said—doing it was a complete thrill!"
At that moment, Jeanne felt a profound, genuine awe for the strategist's sheer defiance of logic. If she had previously felt that Kal'tsit's retaliation was a bit harsh on a physically frail mortal, she now realized the Doctor brought every single second of it upon herself.
Kal'tsit clearly understood the inner workings of this chaotic mind. The only reason the Doctor hadn't been strung up from the landship's main bridge was likely her fragile constitution—she lacked the sheer physical resilience of Vampires like Closure or Warfarin—combined with whatever lingering affection remained between them.
The Doctor was still the same Doctor: the eccentric mind who, in a moment of pure chaotic genius, might set up a memorial altar in Kal'tsit's honor while she was out on a mission. Her thought process operated on a completely different frequency from ordinary mortals.
Even Jeanne, who pridefully considered herself an expert in courting minor disasters, stared blankly at the dark visor, desperate to peer inside and study the bizarre circuitry powering that brain.
"Think about it! If I just wrote those observations down and let them sit in my Terminal, where's the fun in that? But hiding little jabs about her inside regular updates without her noticing right away? Pure adrenaline! Though... I really didn't expect her to actually memorize every single sentence I sent..."
The Doctor's voice trailed off into a hollow murmur as the grim reality of her predicament caught up with her. The fact that Kal'tsit had painstakingly read and committed every word of her rambling logs to memory was genuinely terrifying. She sat in the chair, rendered utterly speechless for a long moment.
"The fact that you're still breathing proves that her affection for you runs extraordinarily deep," Jeanne remarked, patting the strategist's hooded head with a sympathetic sigh.
Right at that moment, the office door slid open, and Kal'tsit stepped back inside, followed by Amiya.
"Are the two of you gossiping about me again?"
Even without hearing the preceding conversation, Kal'tsit's razor-sharp intuition instantly identified the subject of their discussion.
"We were just discussing how difficult your job is," Jeanne replied with a mischievous grin, casting a glance at the Doctor.
"If you are referring to those text transmissions, I hardly gave them a second thought. Daily entries that depart so drastically from reality prove nothing; they merely suggest you were having a temporary episode."
Kal'tsit set the lunch container she had fetched for the Doctor down on the desk. She sat down opposite the strategist, studied her for a quiet moment, and then spoke in her measured, deliberate cadence.
"I have decided to approve the journey to Kjerag. Although your sudden decision to head there at this specific time remains puzzling, I am willing to trust your judgment. Consider it an official leave of absence."
The Doctor could hardly believe her ears. Overjoyed that her request had actually been granted, she nearly lunged across the desk to wrap Kal'tsit in a bear hug, only to be stopped dead by a hard, dark object pressing firmly against her chest.
Mon3tr had materialized out of thin air, forcing the Doctor back into her seat. From inside the helmet came a series of meek, overly flattering chuckles aimed at the stoic Feline.
"However, I have one non-negotiable condition. Regardless of your motives or what you intend to accomplish in Kjerag, the moment I recall you, you must return without delay. We have critical matters awaiting us afterward."
"You have my word! I'll head back the instant you call!" The Doctor shot up like an eager child making a solemn promise to a parent.
Ignoring the dramatic display, Kal'tsit mentally mapped out her administrative workload for the coming weeks before turning her gaze toward Jeanne.
"While on the road, I must ask you to keep a close eye on her. She possesses no combat capability whatsoever—aside from her sharp tongue and tactical command, she is entirely helpless. If she refuses to listen to reason in Kjerag, feel free to pin her to the ground and beat some sense into her. Our only requirement is that she returns alive."
Kal'tsit's tone differed vastly from how she addressed the Doctor; Jeanne felt an overwhelming sense of a weary parent entrusting a troubled child to a reliable guardian.
Come to think of it, the Doctor truly did resemble a child in many respects. Aside from the fact that she couldn't buy a child's ticket at an amusement park, she could easily be treated as a minor in daily life.
"Rest easy, leave her to me. You don't even need to assign extra guards—I can easily protect someone whose fighting strength falls below that of a wild beast fowl."
"That is a blatant exaggeration! I can easily handle a beast fowl in single combat!" The Doctor voiced her indignance at Jeanne's slander.
"That wasn't what you said last month when a stray beast fowl chased you across five hundred yards of the flight deck," Kal'tsit added with deadpan precision, dealing a critical blow to the strategist's pride.
"Ugh... you two are picking on me." Exposed so mercilessly, the Doctor slumped forward, muttering that the world no longer had a place for her and that she might as well vanish into thin air.
"If you keep sulking, we're leaving you behind! I'm heading back to tell Alina to finish packing," Jeanne said, clapping the strategist on the shoulder before making her exit.
Once Jeanne was gone, the Doctor let out a couple of clear coughs under Kal'tsit's unreadable stare, instantly dropping the act and regaining her composure.
"Don't overexert yourself on this trip. I will coordinate with the available operators aboard the landship to form a small escort detail. Given our current personnel constraints, however, elite operators are scarce... Though I will try to free up Blaze for your team."
Kal'tsit reviewed the assignment roster on her screen, carefully selecting potential escorts for the trek.
"If you assign Blaze to escort me, what about the landship's security?" Having been cooped up on Rhodes Island for so long, the Doctor was far from ignorant regarding their current roster limitations, which made her hesitate.
"Don't worry. Ace and his squad will return to the landship the day after tomorrow and remain stationed here for a while. Let Blaze accompany you—she's been cooped up on board for so long she's practically climbing the walls."
Even though Jeanne's presence guaranteed absolute safety, Kal'tsit still preferred having an elite operator on hand to manage logistical details and local friction.
"Doctor, when you're out there, you must listen to Jeanne at all times! If trouble arises, prioritize your own safety before taking action... Doctor, are you listening to me? Doctor! Doctor!"
Amiya fussed like a mother, repeating safety guidelines she had practically memorized word for word. For a scholar as knowledgeable as the Doctor, the lecture created the distinct illusion that she was the younger one in the room.
"I know all of this already! You don't need to worry so much!"
The Doctor reached out and playfully tugged on the young Cautus's long ears with a fond huff.
"Eek—!"