Heading out of the Merchants Guild, Oriana was surprised to see the man from before standing by the building opposite her.
It was clear he was waiting for someone, and given how he shifted upon seeing her, she was the one he was waiting for.
"Finished what you were doing?"
"Err, yes," Michelle replied.
"Good, because I was hoping we could have a chat. There is a restaurant not far from here where we can talk."
Strange. Oriana hadn't expected this. Well, what harm could it do? It seemed like he genuinely wanted to chat. And he had helped her back there.
Following the man, they reached the restaurant called The Discrete Savour. A little on the nose, given how everything seemed to be leading to them having a clandestine meeting right now.
The place looked good enough. The floor was a dark marble, and silk curtains and tapestries lined the walls of the building. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, but like the rest of the building, they glowed with a darker hue, creating a very shadowy area, adding to the ambience.
It didn't hold a candle to the opulence of The Topaz Pavilion, but what it lacked in opulence, it made up for it with a very mysterious and dark setting. It truly felt like you were there to meet someone you should not be. A place that criminals…with coin that is, would meet. If there were any in this time of peace.
Walking through the place, just behind the man, she peered in at the other booths where people were enjoying their meals. As she did, she realised that it was almost as if you could not see any of the other guests who were eating there. Was it magic, perhaps, that was keeping everyone from being seen? Some sort of veil that hid the diners as they sat at the booths.
Before long, they reached their table. Sitting down, she looked around. She still couldn't physically see anyone else eating; all she could see was the man across from her and the waiter.
"What would you like? It's on me."
At that, Oriana, looking like Michelle, got to work browsing through the menu, picking out a rather nice-sounding, but also expensive meal.
Not that it seemed to bother the man.
The waiter came, took the order, and left, leaving the two alone. It was very strange to see the waiter just sort of…fade into the shadows.
"I'm surprised you haven't asked why I helped you."
Oriana blinked a few times. "Well, why you helped doesn't really matter to me. I will say thank you for helping, though."
At that, the man ended up blinking a few times too.
"You're really not going to ask."
Oriana just shrugged, "I'm pretty sure you are going to tell me no matter what."
At that, the man just sighed.
"My name is Simon Eskander. I work in the Inter-Kingdom Peace Treatise Group. We work to make sure the treaties between kingdoms are upheld, and I am fairly high up in the group."
He sat back and waited for a few moments…almost as if he was expecting some sort of recognition, or a remark from Oriana to say how impressive that was.
But, not getting anything back, he swallowed down his failed pride and got on with it.
"Things have pretty much been fine for the last five years. That is, until a few days ago, when one of my colleagues came panicking to me that a few of the other kingdoms were furious with us for trying to steal from them, through trade agreements."
"How odd", was Oriana's nonchalant response.
Simon just shook his head.
"No need to keep the act up. I am aware that it was your doing. Well, I didn't know until today, but I had a hunch when I saw you during the ant incident. From then, I spent the next couple of days looking into all the changes that had happened in the Guild."
He pulled out a couple of documents and just flicked through them as he continued.
"You covered your tracks very well, I must say. The ants also devouring many of the trade deals and agreements was a nice touch, removing some of the evidence…although, looking at you now, I don't think you released them to do that specifically."
Oriana just smiled.
"Whatever the case, through quite a bit of investigation, I ended up resorting to magic to help figure out what happened. Lo and behold, when I looked at the strange documents that had been magically copied, I noticed a faint oddity in the wording in certain parts, a faint residue of magic across them. Just like when I saw the trade deals for the ball today."
"That is rather strange. Someone must have messed with them before I started organising."
"Fine, fine, keep up the act. But don't worry, I have no plans to have you arrested. If I had, I would have taken you down with that Peacekeeper today."
A that, Oriana just shrugged at Simon.
"So why wouldn't you arrest the person causing all the problems in the Merchants Guild?" Oriana asked.
Before they could continue, they heard a beeping sound. To the side was a block of crystal, flashing a blue light and making a faint beeping sound. Simon just reached over and tapped it, and the next thing they knew, the waiter walked in from the darkness with their meals, setting down the plates and drinks in front of them. Both took a few bites before jumping back to their conversation once the waiter had left.
"Do you know what I felt when my colleague came to me the other day. Once the panic had subsided, I couldn't help but think how…interesting it was. Something new was happening, something strange. I even got to go back to my roots, allowing me to investigate what happened."
He almost had a gleam in his eyes as he said that.
"Did you know, I was a private detective before this age of peace arrived. Had a good career, but once the heroes won and the Peacekeepers were brought in, I was out of the job."
He looked up and to the side. Oriana followed his line of sight, but found nothing.
"Thankfully, I had a good enough career that they offered me the job dealing with the kingdom treaties, and from there, I rose through the ranks. But being able to play detective again…was liberating."
"And from that, I think I have figured out why you did it. You can't stand it either. How everything is just so…still now. I can do my job well, but nothing happens. It's horrible, and I'm guessing you feel something like that too."
Oriana's eyes sparkled a little as she heard that. It was one thing to create the chaos to get the message across, but meeting someone who understood the message and felt the same, it was exhilarating.
"I think what you are doing is needed. I mean, you already managed to help me see it. And so, I am more than happy to leave you to do what you want. I might even be able to help you further in the future."
By this point, they had both finished off the meal.
"Now, I would very much like to keep in touch."
Simon pulled a disk out of his pocket and handed it to Oriana.
"It's a paired sigil disk. When you hold it, just think of the message you want to send, and it will warm slightly. Once you have thought of the message, let it go; it will send it to mine. The disk will also be warm and glow slightly when there is a message waiting."
Simon stood up and started to walk off, the darkness starting to envelop him.
"Now I must go. It has been nice to meet you, Michelle, and I hope to see what other excitement you cause in the future."
Before he could leave, Oriana decided to take a risk here. It may have all been a trap, and if it was, it was a very good one. But, Oriana felt that Simon had been sincere in what he had said, and so decided he deserved to know a bit about who he was working with.
"Oriana," she said in almost a whisper.
"What?"
"My name is Oriana," she said as she very slightly removed the illusion on her face, showing him what she actually looked like.
She didn't go too far, though. She kept her skin tone to that of Michelle, just made her facial structure look as it normally did.
With the darkness and hidden booth, no one else had seen or heard, for that matter. She realised there must be another enchantment that removed sound as she had not heard anything from anywhere else in the restaurant.
"Thank you for trusting me."
"And thank you for helping me…and for feeling the same that I do."
With that, they both started to leave…but then Oriana realised something.
"Ah, I didn't try a dessert."
Back at the table, she called the waiter in and went for another dessert. This one was some sort of assortment of fruit, but with a crumbling mixture of some sort mixed into it. Alongside it was something called custard, which she very quickly realised was something that she loved.