MAZE - The Endless Quest

“Hera, you have a text,” Neria said as the Empress was in the bathroom.

“Is it my dad again?”

“Yep.”

Hera sighed and slowly pulled some scales from the back of her knee. It was embarrassing to have found that out now. It made her feel like she didn’t take a proper shower, which wasn’t the case. She was supposed to be done with shedding, but somehow, she missed this spot, “Just leave it. I’ll talk to him later.”

Neria locked the screen and turned around, there was some smoke coming out of the bathroom, “Is everything ok there?”

“Yeah. I’m just burning the skin I shed,” Hera replied.

Neria blinked slowly, “But… Why?”

Hera walked out of the bathroom, “I don’t know. What else am I supposed to do with it? Keeping it feels weird, like I’m keeping my nail clippings, or hair. And throwing it in the trash, fells just wrong. It’s still a part of me, you know?”

“Don’t some snakes eat their skin for sustenance?”

Hera gave Neria a deadpan stare, “I’m not eating my own skin.”

“I’m not saying you eat it! But maybe, I don’t know. Recycle? Your scales are supposed to be sturdy, right? Maybe some armor or something?”

Hera huffed and dropped to the bed, laying on her stomach above the covers, “I’ll figure it out later. Besides, this is the first time that happened. And it was all patchy. I still think the fight made this happen sooner than it was supposed to.”

Neria gently passed her nail over the Ophidianite’s back going back and forth from her neck to the base of her tail, “How does it feel?”

“This is nice. It’s a bit of a shiver, but a good one,” Hera replied with a smile.

“I mean, the shedding,” Neria chuckled.

“Oh… It’s strange. First, it feels like I’m exposed when I change. Like… am naked, you know?” Neria didn’t answer. She just gestured to Hera’s current lack of clothing, “Yeah, yeah. But I mean even more than this. It also feels like it is something super personal. It’s the kind of thing that no one should see. About the actual feeling… you know that feeling when you have a fever? The skin being more sensitive?”

“I do, that sounds awful.”

“Yeah, but now keep it more sensitive, but remove the feeling of fever. It’s kind of nice, actually. Similar to a thorough exfoliation.”

“So you are saying you are more sensitive here?” Neria created some cold water with magic and sprayed it on the back of Hera’s knee. The one that she had just taken the old scales off.

“You bitch,” Hera groaned, but she didn’t move.

“I’m sorry,” Neria said with a smile and kissed the Empress’s leg, gently.

Hera waited a couple of moments, enjoying the feeling and letting Neria focus on what she was doing. But that was only a distraction. The Ophidianite quickly moved her tail, wrapping it around the triton’s waist and pulled her to the middle of the bed, flipping the healer around as the Empress landed on top of her, holding both her wrists.

“My turn,” Hera said in a melodic voice. Their lips touched as their bodies intertwined.

Later that day, the Harmony Guardians and Helena gathered in a fancy restaurant near the palace. The event ceremony was boring and there was a party later where people could mingle. However, Hera didn’t have the chance to enjoy the food and drinks. She spent the entire night talking with the press and with some of the high nobility of Neptara.

“I still can’t believe you went against the council like that,” Skyler shook her head. Hera had told them what her speech was actually supposed to be like. A rallying cry against the humans, not her putting some doubt on their motives.

“I don’t know. Something tells me Queen Typhera would agree with what Hera did,” Vash nodded in approval.

“She did, and so did Nereus and Grimaclaw. Thora, Elara, and Thrain, were the ones that disagreed with that. But since I have the backing of three people, my vote makes that the fourth, so the council decided to start talking more about the mind control. Slowly, at first. They don’t want to make people less inclined to fight against the humans,” Hera explained.

“It’s still hard to accept you are calling Chieftain Wilmanue, and Shaman Pathun, by their first names,” Roan grumbled.

“I mean… they asked me for it. Said I should call them more casually. Since they don’t want members of the council to be able to talk with each other without worrying about the position. Even if my place there is less… Solid, I guess. They still wanted me to follow the same rules. Otherwise, it would seem I was just a puppet.”

Helena took a sip of her coffee, “You know, sweetie. I don’t think you should be saying ‘they’ anymore. Isn’t it ‘we’ now?”

That line made Hera let out a loud groan, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“How is it? Being a member of the council? Must be hell,” Flint snorted.

“Honestly, I still don’t know. And from what I understand, there won’t be much of a change. If anything, getting information should be easier for me. Since now any request comes with a permission. Sure, I can’t just call the Intelligence Agency and ask about anything, they have their own protocols about ongoing missions and stuff like that, but I can more or less get intel about whatever. Our job still remains the same. We help with whatever comes by. Going to the front lines like we did is something that we don’t have to do unless there is an emergency,” Hera explained.

“Don’t you have to participate in council meetings and stuff?” Skyler asked.

“Only if I’m near one of the others. Those meetings have a lot of security behind it and having someone join in from a random location is a problem. When I get to a city that has a safer network, they will pass me a summary of their decisions, and ask about anything I might need to vote on. Nothing that will be important since the things that are important need to be decided quickly. The one thing I have control over is Deakoshara and Zaxalam, but I told them King Rutigan could make all the decisions about Zaxalam. He is living there with his people, it’s only fair. For Deakoshara I asked that no one tries to explore the place. We don’t know the kinds of traps placed by the Naga, and since they had a barrier that only one of them could open, it makes sense that there are similar things inside,” Hera continued.

“Then… isn’t that too beneficial for you?” Flint frowned.

“It is, but I think they are doing that because they feel sorry. They are basically using me as a tool. My face is going to be plastered everywhere, people won’t leave me alone and the guild will try to take me out whenever they can,” Hera sighed.

“And the guild is likely to make their own Aspirant Hero soon. And send them to kill Hera,” Helena looked at the Empress, “We’ll be sure to protect you, Sweetie.”

“Thank you,” Hera smiled.

“You know… if this war is over before the two Aspirant Heroes fight, we could arrange a cage match. That could make a lot of money,” Vash took his cup as if it was a microphone, “Two Heroes go in. One comes out, the battle to decide who is the true 10th Hero!”

“If that happens, we can make it a charity. To help the people who lost something in the war,” Hera suggested.

Flint and Roan groaned while Neria laughed, “Don’t you want any of the money?”

“Not really. I already have a lot of it, and Deakoshara is massive. Since the entire room is ‘mine’, I’ll probably be filthy rich once I start exploring that place. Besides, as a council member, the Alliance is now paying for my bills. Any gold I make can go back to my gear while not worrying about expenses,” Hera shrugged.

“So… why are we paying for this?” Vash gestured to the table in front of them.

“Who said we are? I gave them my new card to pay for this.”

“I’m getting a bottle of wine, then!” Vash smiled.

“It’s noon, my guy,” Skyler rolled her eyes.

“Hera? Can I?” Vash made puppy eyes at her.

“No. It’s too early and it will reflect poorly on the new council member,” Hera replied bluntly. It was more for the joke than anything else. She really didn’t care what the council thought about her actions. They were using her, she might as well use them in turn.

They continued eating and talking, mostly about the party last night and everything Hera missed while doing ‘official work.’ Things like how Vash was challenged by another performer, and they ended up going through a series of bets. Or how Flint found an old fling, she was a triton on her 60s and slowly getting gray. She introduced him to her family, which ended up including one of Neria’s cousins. Which meant that, if things were a bit different, Flint and Neria could’ve ended up being related.

Neria also talked about her family, how they showered her with praise and told her how proud they were of their little girl. Which got a good laugh from the rest of the group. Even Helena had a good night, despite some people being wary of her presence. Others were happy to see that now all humans were accepting what the guild said and following them blindly.

Eventually, the topic landed on their next steps, “So. What do we do now? Ask Milla for a new mission? And what about you, Lena? Are you coming with us?” Skyler asked.

“Actually. I have something I have to do. And while talking with Nereus, he mentioned that it might be better if I split off for a bit,” Hera said.

Everyone looked at the Empress with a surprised expression, except Neria, who was already aware of the situation.

“What is it?” Helena asked.

Being overly cautious, Hera tapped her finger on the table and created a soundproof bubble, “It’s about the Strength Spirits. The agency found them and liberated them from the humans. I need to go there, Vulcan needs to see how they are. But it’s very far away, and it’s not like the Alliance can have a high-level group like ours. Just stop helping for a while.”

“How far away is it?” Roan asked.

“10 days to get there. It would be 30, but the Underground Babel will let me cut a good chunk of it. Getting back will vary. Depends on where all of you are.”

“Do you need to go there right now?” Vash asked.

“Need to? No, but it might help. The agency hit a wall in relation to the Soldiers of Strength. They don’t know where people are being kept. The hopes would be that with Vulcan’s help, we could pinpoint where he was sent to, and maybe get some more clues from there,” Hera explained, “Also… It will be really good for him to be there.”

The group stayed silent for a moment, understanding the ramifications of what she said. Without Hera, their ability to solve problems was severely reduced. But on the other hand, they had been leaning on the Empress and her court a lot. A change of pace might be better in the long run.

“Sweetie, is the path to get to the Strength Spirits, dangerous?” Helena asked.

“Not really. Most rooms won’t go beyond level 30. And the ones that do have ways to be skipped. Even if that would increase the travel time for a day or two. Why?”

“Then do you mind if I come along?” Helena turned to Skyler, “I was not going to stay with you. Fighting is not my strong suit. My talents might be better suited to trying to uncover whatever the guild left in that room. I was a damn good clerk back when, and I know a few of their patterns pretty well.”

Hera smiled, “I would like that. It will be nice not to do that journey alone. Well, I wouldn’t be alone either way, but talking with the voices in my head all the time would make me go a bit crazy.”

“Tell me about it, you’ll end up talking to a snake. Do you know how weird that is?” Daskka spoke up.

“Ha, ha. Very funny,” Hera patted the herald and gave her some food that was on her plate, “Either way. I still need to be here for two more days. Nereus set up another dinner with the nobles of the city and I’ll have to make an appearance. As well as a meeting with the council again.”

They continued their meal and talked about plans, about their battles and skills. It was nice to have a moment like this after such a hard fought battle.

While they were waiting for dessert, Neria created an illusion on Hera’s lap. A few words, ‘Does that mean my bed won’t be empty tonight?’

Hera replied in kind, but using mist as Daskka taught her, ‘Not if I can help it.’