"Hey! Yep, we slept well. Are you ready to run and talk a bit of our plan?", asks Zarya, with Rain behind her and fixing her hair – they rushed out to see Mailen.
They begin to jog around the hotel, and Rain decides to start a conversation.
"So, Mailen, how old are you?"
Mailen looks at Rain and responds: "I am 27 years old, what about you two?"
Rain gets closer to Mailen and Zarya, so she doesn't have to be too loud and says: "Zarya is 17, and I am 25".
"That's an interesting age gap. How so that she – a 17-year-old, is spending time with a 25-year-old?", asks Mailen.
"Well, she wanted to join the Thread, and after I showed her some proof that I am from the Thread, I let her in the crew. Also, as I said, we are all just friends – she also has no parents and is alone in here. She knows a lot about Kephar, so she is also here for that reason too.", says Rain, telling Mailen that there's nothing to worry about.
Zarya decides to also add: "I am turning 18 soon, if that's a problem with you. People from the age of 16 here are treated as adults, so here it's really no problem."
"If you say so, I'll believe you.", says Mailen. "Also, Rain, you mentioned yesterday that you were from Earth. Isn't that planet under control of the infamous Scientists?"
"Yep, you got that right. They think I'm dead right now. My goal, other than bringing peace, is to take down the Scientists and get Earth moving again from its time dilation issues. It won't be easy, but I hope I'll be able to do it in my lifetime.", says Rain.
"Interesting. So you backstabbed them, and joined the UHC?", asks Mailen.
"Well, not really. I am still not a part of UHC – I am my own entity, that being the Thread Crew or Threadian or whatever.", says Rain.
"Hmm… Okay. Because I am here by UHC's request, I'll ask them if I have a green flag to join you, and also be allies with the UHC. The UHC sent me from Astoria to here because I was the only employee of UHC in Astoria that was also neutral in politics.", says Mailen. "The only neutral entity because Astoria was funding the war for Pequina due to their Kepharian connections."
"So, kind of like us. I am not a big fan of political stuff, but if it means to bring peace, I'll gladly be involved", says Rain.
"You get what I mean!", says Mailen.
Zarya, in her head: "I swear, these two are going to be best friends forever… I am very happy for those two. I love them."
As they stop jogging, Mailen decides to call UHC:
"Hello. This is Mailen Kurpun.", says Mailen.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kurpun.", says the UHC representative to Mailen.
"I'd like to request a green flag to join the Thread.", says Mailen.
"Have they arrived after all this time?", asks the representative, sharing the news to the rest of UHC.
"Yes. It's led by a woman named Rain, and she has a companion named Zarya, a Kepharian local. They are totally trustworthy, and actually something we have awaited.", says Mailen.
"Alright. The UHC approves your exchange, and is hereby inviting the Thread to ally with us.", says the representative.
"We accept greatly.", says Mailen, with a smile on his face.
"Great. Enjoy yourselves, and we wish you a prosperous future. May the Universe be on your side.", says the representative before the call ends.
Mailen ended the call. "I am allowed to join you. You are also now officially allied with the UHC, strategically, and financially."
"Hooray! New member! I will make sure to give you all the necessary things once we are done here. Also, we don't really need financial aid, I pretty much have infinite money.", says Rain, excitedly.
Zarya starts jumping around: "Yay! Four members of the crew!!".
Rain cuts her off for a second and says: "Xita is a moral member; he isn't a part of the inside crew – the one that visits other planets."
"Ohh… Oops, I didn't figure it out.", says Zarya, rolling her fingers a bit of embarrassment.
"Don't worry about it. You two just joined the crew, you still have a lot to learn. By our next mission, you will already know everything.", reassures Rain, increasing their morale.
Mailen, Rain and Zarya decide to go back to the city, and have some food for the morning.
"Alright, let's head to the city, eat, then get to the president today.", says Rain.
They walk to the stand which sells 'hot dogs', according to Zarya. Both Rain and Mailen still do not know what is written pretty much anywhere – due to their non-existent knowledge of the Kepharian script. Rain only knows Universal and Solarian, while Mailen only knows Universal.
Zarya buys them a hot dog and says: "I have to teach you guys the Kepharian script. Thank the Gods that I am a native here, and I understand the script. It's actually a simple script, especially cause the Universal Language is spoken everywhere, even in Kephar and the Solar System, with the exception being scripts."
Mailen adds up: "Isn't there also languages that are different, just limited to their own planets? I know that my native language – Astorian uses the Universal script but is spoken completely differently."
Zarya looks at Mailen and replies: "That's right! I have never heard a different language other than Universal, may I hear your language, pretty please?"
Mailen looks up after taking a bite, and says (with a mouthful of hot dog): "Gimme a second. Let me finish this hot dog."
Rain, already finished with her food, goes to grab a drink. Mailen finishes with his hot dog, and tells Zarya to wait up so he can catch a breath, cause sentences in Astorian make zero sense – they're long, and confusing with the amount of grammatical stuff.
"Okay, let's try." – "Aio nukire shi wa Mailenkana korimashinka."
Rain comes back and hears the sentence: "…Do I have to call an exorcist? Zarya, is he okay?"
Zarya chuckles and says: "No need to worry, Rain, he is just speaking in Astorian."
"Interesting…", says Rain. "What did you say, Mailen?"
"My name is Mailen.", says Mailen. "'Aio' means 'my', 'nukire' is name, 'shi wa' is the first part of 'to be', and finally 'korimashinka' is the second part of 'to be'. 'Mailenkana' is separated in two: Mailen being my name and 'kana' meaning 'self', so a literal translation would be 'My name to Mailen-self be'."
…
"I… have not understood a single thing. What?", asks Rain, with Zarya giving a nod of agreement.
Mailen just chuckles, and steals a bit of Rain's juice, and says: "It's fine. Barely anybody speaks this language. It's considered one of the hardest languages in the universe."
Rain, just noticing Mailen took some of her juice: "I paid for that juice, I want compensation…"
"Okay, how much was it?", says Mailen, already preparing around 5 colacks.
"I'm just joking, bro! Don't worry about it. You can take all the juice if you want~", says Rain, smirking at Mailen.
"Okay", laughs Mailen, because Rain's smirk looks quite funny. "You should work on your smirk though; it looks very cute and funny"
Rain gets red: "Hey! I never smirked at anyone, okay?"
"It's okay, Rain. I am sorry for laughing at you. We should get to work though, are y'all ready?", says Mailen, telling the crew to now get to work. The sun is high, and they should be moving to the presidential office by now, to talk to the president.
They ask a police officer to give them directions to the presidential area, and show them the certificate. The police officer escorts them, and calls in the president's service team to lead you to him.
"This hall is genuinely long… What the hell..?", says Zarya, at quite a loss of words.
"I know, right? But we'll hopefully be able to bring peace now.", replies Rain, agreeing with Zarya.
Mailen, just doesn't say anything. He is truly at a loss for words.
Then, they enter the office. A person awaits them behind the table. Maybe that's the president.
"Good afternoon, Mr. President.", says Rain.
"I am not the president. I am his spokesperson. I lead everything for him, in his name for the last thousand years.", says the person.
"Oh… I want to talk about bringing peace to Kephar, and ending the war.", says Rain, confused as to how is a single person responsible for a president for a thousand years. In this era, humans live around 500 years, with the longest-living intelligent species being Almatians, at around 1500 years – with their medicine working on increasing human life expectancy to around a thousand years.
"Well, the talks can just end here. We want to eviscerate Pequina. They are hiding something behind the walls of Bolmor, and we want to know what.", says the president. "Security, please escort them out of here."
As they get escorted and leave the big building, they decide to strategize again.
"How is this person alive for a thousand years, and what happened to the true president? I swear, something is up with this person. But then, what about the president that was showing up to peace talks?", says Mailen, confused as to what they should do.
"I'll inform Sanydra. Gimme a minute.", says Rain, before leaving to talk to Kael.
"Interesting observation, I have to say.", says Zarya. "The only thing that comes to my mind is a 'God's curse'. Now, which god, and what curse? There are millions of different possibilities."
"I know none of them, so I shouldn't be the one to be questioned for this. However, I did hear something from people during my time here.", says Mailen.
"What did you hear?", asks Zarya, raising an eyebrow.
"Basically, I heard that every time Sanydra calls for peace in their land, the spokesperson feels ill. He doesn't make any public appearances, but suddenly feels normal after peace talks.", says Mailen, looking at Rain as she comes back.
"I have some important intel from Kael, guys. The spokesperson is the one that makes an appearance at peace talks. Also, said spokesperson always leaves the peace talks at specific times. Because talks always happen at around midday, the spokesperson leaves always exactly 34 minutes after peace talks begin.", says Rain, now completely suspicious of the spokesperson.
"Well, there is our answer. I think that the culprit – the president is the spokesperson. Now to see what happened with the president of Leinata for the past thousand years, and what is actually happening behind the scenes.", says Mailen. "Do we have any idea how we can breach into the presidential area again?"
"Well, the document is going to be useful. Again, we will need a local to deal with this, or at least somebody in high position. Kael gave me a few people, so we can try to ask them for help. They are neutral on every side, and will gladly help us resolve issues in Leinata – considering that was their original goal here.", says Rain, with a big plan in her mind.
The crew decided to go back to their hotel, because they were tired and wanted to nap a little. It was just past noon, and they wanted to do some cool stuff in the evening, and maybe also start with their plan. At the hotel, Rain finished setting up Mailen's stuff with Xita on call. They welcomed Mailen to the team, and he was now officially a "Threadian".
At evening, they finished their nap, and went out. The city – now filled with beautiful lights, and a beautiful main square next to the hotel – made Rain feel like she was back in Badima. The people going to restaurants, spending time together and having fun, and the atmosphere very romantic made Zarya feel comfortable while also making her want to do some goofy things. Mailen and Rain walked down the square as Rain looked up at the buildings and the beautiful orange lights filling the square.
Rain, now feeling fully comfortable, decided to tell the crew: "I want to call the people from this party that Kael told us about to help us with our plan."
"Great idea. This scenery of the square and the 'comfortable' atmosphere may make our convincing technique easier. Even though we may not even need to convince – you said they're neutral and also peacekeepers.", says Mailen, sitting down at a base of a fountain before a small fountain squirt decides to splash him over.
"Damn it. I'll be back, let me change my clothes. Y'all go to that restaurant over there, with the statue.", says Mailen, pointing at the restaurant, filled with people outside and also a statue of what seems to be a god-like creature.
Zarya and Rain go towards the restaurant, with Rain booking a table for four. Zarya decides to investigate the statue because of her interest in history. She looks at her phone and learns that this is the 'War God', also named 'Volkarod', something Leinatans are very proud of.
Mailen comes back and sees the two already at their table. Rain says that she called a high-ranking official who is the president's right-hand, right after the spokesperson. He is against the spokesperson's wishes, and wishes that the spokesperson steps down. He has been elected only a year ago, but he knows that something is wrong.
"Hello. Are you Usen?", asks a man.
"Yes. And you are?", asks Rain, looking at a man, thinking that this may be the person.
"You called me for a meeting about a spokesperson of Leinata. Please, follow me, because this isn't an area to discuss such topic.", says the man.
Rain says "sure", and leaves with the man. Zarya follows behind after paying for the drinks and Mailen comes with her. The man leads them to a 'secret alley-looking place', where they can be hidden from Leinata's strict surveillance laws.
"Okay. Now that we're here, we can talk. I am Haim, a neutrally sided peace bringer for the war in Leinata and Pequina. You said you wanted intel on the spokesperson of Leinata's president, right?", says the man, revealing his identity.
"Yes, we think something is up with the man. We believe that he is cursed by one of Kephar's gods, more preferably the War God, Volkarod.", says Rain, adding to Zarya: "That's his name, right?"
"Correct. We believe that he killed the president, but we have nothing backing this claim. We believe that's why they're all war driven.", says Zarya.
"You guys are actually correct. And there's many more stuff behind this. I will explain the whole reason behind this war, and then you can probably resolve our issue.", says Haim, being sure that they are strong enough to face the consequences of what's about to go down.