Shortly thereafter, before the cold sweat on Tessa's neck had even dried, Nedonera turned her entire world upside down three times over. First, her open admission that she was following Mizuki's orders – that he was the undisputed leader of their little group. Next, that her fondness for him didn't just exceed Tessa's expectations, but was also romantic.
Mizuki was Nedonera's husband.
Finally, they were treated to a claim so absurd, so utterly unexpected, that Tessa had been inclined towards Jorah's reasoning that Mizuki was attempting to trick them. That is, Nedonera revealed that Mizuki was actually stronger than an Elder Dragon. That he held so much power that she didn't even consider him human.
Of course, Tessa was in no emotional state to say anything in response to that claim, even if she doubted it, but the same couldn't be said about Jorah. She'd been forced to watch in horror as Jorah's idiotic posturing at Mizuki had forced him to prove his claims, demonstrating his strength.
Before Mizuki did just that, it hadn't escaped Tessa's notice that, right before Nedonera's declarations about Mizuki, fear had suddenly wreaked havoc on the Queen's usually steady voice. She'd even tried to subtly reason with Mizuki about something.
Tessa had known her cousin for millennia, and she'd always been as fearless as she was formidable. Elira was no coward, and Tessa had never heard the Queen's voice filled with so much alarm. Not even when dealing with an angry Nedonera. So that, combined with her speaking up before Nedonera revealed anything, spoke volumes to Tessa.
Whatever power Mizuki wielded, Elira already knew about it, and that power scared the Queen more than anything else on the planet. That's why, before Mizuki even snapped his fingers, Tessa's blood had already run cold, her instincts telling her a single truth.
They were about to bear witness to something so monstrous that even their own Queen, the most unshakeable person Tessa knew, only thought to subtly appeal to Mizuki to not act too hastily.
Mizuki's own behavior at the time only confirmed Tessa's suspicions. His normally reserved, smug smile was finally on full, unfettered display as a wolfish grin, and his eyes that normally held a spark of amusement were practically shining with mischief. The message from him was clear as well – whatever had been holding him back from being himself in the past was no more, and he was fully resolved to etch into their very souls exactly who they were dealing with.
And then, a snap from Mizuki had wiped away Tessa's entire world. Literally and figuratively. One second they were holding a meeting in the palace, surrounded by the illusion of safety, and the next they were somewhere else entirely. It was as though the walls around her had dissolved in a flash of light to reveal a completely foreign and unfamiliar space.
The entire elven government had been dragged to some faraway land at a mere snap of Mizuki's fingers, and he didn't even break a sweat.
She realized the implications of the demonstration almost immediately. While he seemed to busy himself, completely calm all the while, with informing everyone present about what he'd done, where they were, and how they had nothing to fear, Tessa's eyes were locked on him as her own mind mulled over her new reality.
She recognized that what he'd done wasn't just a 'demonstration' of his power, but also a very subtle threat. Teleporting them all to another room wasn't inherently aggressive, and he was indeed behaving non-threateningly after doing so. However, it also sent a simple message to anyone with a brain – he could just as easily have teleported the entire elven government to the middle of the ocean to die, if he wanted.
Tessa received that message, loud and clear.
She decided right then and there...under absolutely no circumstances could she afford to antagonize Mizuki or anyone in his group, or to let any other elf present do the same.
Not yet, at least.
They were completely at his mercy. With the speed Mizuki had teleported them, any weapons they brought served only to weigh them down if he sent them to the ocean.
That's why, when her daughter and other escort had continued to brandish their weapons at Mizuki, she'd admonished their behavior as severely as she could in the moment. It's also why she'd made such efforts to publicly shame Jorah for his efforts to have Mizuki teleport them back so he could call the guards, and to verbally support the decision to continue holding the meeting inside Mizuki's home.
However, none of this was because she'd come to the conclusion that she could trust Mizuki, or accepted that he was someone whose power should banish any thought of resisting his whims. On the contrary, her fundamental opinion of Mizuki as a person, or rather, as a human, hadn't changed.
At that point, she still assumed that – as a human – he was a fundamentally hostile threat whose actions could only harm and exploit her people in the long-term, even if the elves had seemed to benefit from them thus far. In her mind, the only thing that had changed was the magnitude and urgency of the threat he posed.
So, instead of deciding that he wasn't to be trifled with, she resolved herself for the arduous task of killing him. If she had to grovel, lie and say she believed he was their savior, become his most ardent benefactor to gain his trust, or even swallow her bile and invite him into her bed to get him to let his guard down, she decided right then that she'd do it on her own. To eliminate the grave threat she saw him as, even if Nedonera killed her afterwards because of it.
One would assume that, after such a profound display of power on his part, she'd have concluded him to be a being whose whims it was futile to resist. In fact, that was exactly what her reactions early on in the meeting had suggested to Mizuki. Alas, that was just a facade...a manifestation of Tessa's resolution to convince him that she'd abandoned any thought of future hostility.
Instead, Tessa was confident that she could still kill him.
It's important to note that every line of thought, every step in logic she made, began with the assumption that allowing him to do as he wished in their kingdom would ultimately bring them to ruin. That a human had to have nefarious intentions towards the elves. Therefore, she reasoned that, if he hadn't leveraged his power against them before, it was because something was holding him back. Because he wasn't as powerful as he wanted them to believe, and had a weakness she could exploit. After all, impressive though it was, all he'd done so far was teleport.
She couldn't accept the simple truth as a possibility – Mizuki hadn't used his power to harm them, not because he couldn't, but because he harbored not a shred of ill will towards the elves.
When faced with his power, she'd merely repeated her family's motto to herself over and over again – knowledge is power. If she could learn enough about Mizuki, about his power and its weaknesses, then with enough planning she could kill him. Just like the other humans, knowledge was the key to overcoming him. She truly believed that.
If he could kill anyone he sees, she'd just hide and strike from afar. If he could kill her with a snap of his fingers, she'd strike before he even thought about doing it. After all, even Elder Dragons could bleed, and he had no scales of his own to protect him. If she could plan one, critical attack while he was unaware, she was sure that he could bleed, too.
Until that opportunity presented itself, she'd resolved herself to be the epitome of a friend to him and bide her time.
Alas, her resolve was shattered like glass against a sledgehammer as the meeting continued and he revealed his abilities. Teleportation, flight, invisibility, barriers and strange forces that not even the strongest physical enhancers could resist, and more. The most terrifying thing of all, however, was his ability to sense anything over inconceivable distances and use his powers from afar.
That was something she couldn't have imagined in her wildest nightmares. The knowledge that, no matter where either he or she was in the kingdom, he was only a thought away from setting her on fire, teleporting her into the ocean, or crushing her like paste where she stood. There was no overpowering him, no hiding from him, and with Nedonera's ability to sense deception, no keeping her intentions from him.
As soon as she understood that, all thoughts of taking any hostile action against Mizuki died forever. At the same time, she realized the truth that she hadn't been able to before – the only thing stopping Mizuki was himself.
In retrospect, that was clear to her from how, before he'd slaughtered Belmod and his guards uncontested, he'd groveled, promised to spy, and offered them every opportunity to end the discussion peacefully. Not because he had some mysterious weakness and was scared of them, but simply because he felt like giving them a chance to live.
That idea was only solidified when he was asked if he'd ever turn his power against the elves, and she heard his response. He didn't lie, he didn't change the subject, he didn't even bother sugarcoating his words. He just plainly declared that he'd slaughter their entire army if they did something to deserve it. No apology, and no concern for how they'd react. It was plain as day to her – Mizuki didn't see anyone on the planet as a threat to him.
And...she agreed with him.
She'd already decided that she'd never even dream of antagonizing Mizuki again, but that moment had been when she finally cracked. She may have been silent on the outside, but her thoughts at the time were already descending into madness.
'Knowledge is power?', she'd thought wryly. 'What a joke! In the face of absolute power, knowledge is just a tool to understand enough to shit yourself in fear.'
To her, trying to kill something as powerful as Elder Dragons might be a matter of determination, planning, and luck, but trying to kill a god...that was ritual suicide. And as far as Tessa was concerned from then on, that's exactly what he was.
Mizuki was a god...one that the elves had to learn to live with.
So, she did exactly that. She decided to trust what he said from then on, for the simple reasons that he had absolutely no reason to lie to her, and she had no hope of resisting whatever agenda him lying to her was part of. And with that resignation, came her chance to feel peace again.
As they discussed plans to defend the Elven Kingdom from the Empire, and Mizuki made one promise of protection and assistance after another, asking for nothing in return, she'd begun to accept her new god. As far as gods went, he was calm, uninterested in bending the elves to his will, and far more willing to help them than any other god she'd ever met.
She allowed herself to think that, just maybe, Mizuki didn't represent a constant, oppressive presence for the elves. That after the crisis of the Empire was over, things could return to the way they were before the meeting. Mizuki would be a silent presence in their country, and the elves' way of life wasn't destined to end. Plus, she still thought him human, and assumed he'd die of old age in a few decades. They just had to avoid issues before that happened.
Then, Ilina dropped the bomb that was her and Mizuki's engagement, and all hell broke loose.