Assassin's Knife (WIP)

[Jaylenrup]

A lesbian steampunk action adventure story


Chapter One

It was oddly quiet in the temple. Sister Silence had called her to pray with her in front of the Deity.

Sister Silence joined her in front of the statue of the Deity and bowed her head in respect to the stone figure.

“Sister why have you called me here?” she asked.

Sister Silence remained silent she lit the red ceremonial candles at the foot of the statue.

“Am I to receive my name?” She probed further.

“No.” Sister Silence intoned.

“A mission?”

“No.” Sister Silence’s vow to never speak more than needed was growing increasing annoying.

“Have I done something wrong?”

“Yes.”

“My sin?”

Sister Silence stared at her, and then lightly touched her forehead, “impious.”

“I believe as strongly as any of-“

“Liar,” said Sister Silence, cutting her off.

“What is to be done with me?”

“Commission.” Sister Silence replied with a slight smile, and pulled papers out from her robe and handed it to her.

“You’re kicking me out and handing me off to someone else?”

“Sorry,” Sister Silence said and stood, so she did as well. Sister Silence leaned forward and took her robe, leaving her only in her undergarments. Sister Silence looked at her sadly.

“So am I. Goodbye.” She replied to the Sister and bowed slightly and left to gather her things.

***

She sat on her bed as she read the commission file. She had a day to gather her things and leave the temple, but her old Sisters would not hurry her out too quick.

The workers of the Deity had been requested to supply their most competent Hushist to the Imperial Palace. It would have to be someone who could obey the Imperial family without regard to the Deity.

The reason she had been picked became clearer.

She had never been a particularly talented Soother, and had thus dedicated herself to being an exceptional Hushist. This flew in the face of the Deity who demanded her followers be equally skilled in healing as well as assassination.

The light from the gas lamp flickered. She frowned.

She was no longer in the Deity’s employ. She would need a name. She did not remember her birth name. And she could not keep referring to herself as she.

Perhaps her new masters would give her one. Inside the file there was a ticket for a train to a dicking bay. And then another ticker for an airship ride to the palace. First class. If her masters where going to give her a name it seemed like it would be a ridiculously fancy one.

No, she would name herself. She thought of an old name one of her first contracts had been called. She had like the taste of it.
She would be Fenris.
Fenris smiled.

***

The next day, in the early morning hours, Fenris bid her farewells to her friends in the Sisterhood and boarded her train. She sat down in her allocated seat and put herself in her mediation pose to think about her life’s latest developments.

Trees flashed by out the train window. Fenris had never been good at quiet mediation. She quickly grew frustrated and bored. Upon reflection she would have made a terrible sister. She could not help but be distracted by the excitement of her first train ride.

She quickly realized her new masters had provided her well on this ride. A young man came in to tell her that if she wished for anything, she would simply pull on this string here and it would tell the waiting staff that she wanted for something.

“Er, excuse me miss but,” the lad said after explaining. “Hope it’s not rude to ask, but you’re merely listed as ‘young female’. What your name?”

Fenris grinned. She had been waiting eagerly for this moment. “My name is Fenris.”

A funny look crossed the young man’s face. “Ain’t that a boy’s name?” He asked than backtracked, “oh I’m sorry, how rude of me I just meant…” he trailed off hopelessly.

Fenris had never paid much attention to gender, and remember that contact had been a man. “My nick name is Fen.” She said pointedly to the lad, hoping that would do. She had liked the name, and was unwilling to give it up.

“Uhm, yes, er sorry miss. Excuse me,” he said and hurried off.
Fenris thought this over. She had always been envious of a patron who came and said his name was Tomas, nick name Big Tom. The luxury of having two names impressed her.

She now had two names too. Fenris. Fen.

She decided she would not let that lad’s remark annoy her. She closed her eyes and tried to meditate again.

***

Fenris was disturbed by the sound of a heated argument outside her luxurious booth. She paid more attention to her surroundings now, having decided her meditation was a fruitless effort if she was going to be constantly disturbed by the sounds of the train.

She quickly realized as she explored that this was a private car on the train. She had been given her own private car. There was the booth where she had been sleeping, across from it was a small powder room and the rest of the car was taken up by an open lounge area with a private car.

There were fancy gas lamps of brass, and the car’s interior was painted a deep purple with gold trimmings.

So this is how someone employed by the Imperials travels, she mused to herself. In the next car over she could see the people who must have disturbed her by arguing.

There was a young man with his long black hair plated at the back. He was clean shaven, and his face angular and smug looking. His skin was the tan colour of the Harrian province’s eastern neighbours, the Firians. His slanted eyes were a light brown, and filled with anger.

“What do you mean somebody is in my third car? You can’t just rent it out. It is imperial property!” The young Firian man raged.

“Sir, uh, my prince, that is to say-” one of the attendants spluttered.

“Well spit it out, you underdeveloped chimpanzee!”

“I, I -, my prince, I didn’t, I mean…” The attendant trailed off hopelessly. Fenris had had enough. If the rage filled young Firian man was one of the princes, he was one of her new masters. But she would not tolerate bullies. She crossed to the next car over.

“Excuse me,” Fenris said with stern politeness.

The attendant and the young prince looked at her. The attendant look hopeful, he probably saw a rescuer in her.

“So you’re the common filth that stole my third car. How did you get the money to convince these unprofessional morons to rent it out to you? Sleep with the conductor did you?” The prince sneered.

“My prince, I’m not sure how it escaped your notice, as I’m sure you are attentive to the business of the Imperial Palace, but I am in your families employ. I have recently been bought from the temple of the Unnameable Deity.” She said curtly. “If you wish, master, I will relocate.”

“Of course. I assume Tander forgot to tell me that you were booked on this train. He doesn’t like to bother me with trivial details.” The prince said and then turned to the attendant. “You there! Move this servant to a more befitting car on this train. I want my third car cleaned out by the time I need my massage.”

The prince then looked Fenris over, and retreated to one of his other cars. Fenris rolled her eyes. She did not have the time to deal with imperial brats. Or maybe she did. Who knew what her new masters wanted, and if it was disposing of that snobbish prince she would neither be reluctant or surprised.

“Sorry, miss.” The attendant said sheepishly.

“Quite alright, call me Fen. Do you need help with the bags?” She replied.

“Oh no! Miss, uhm, Fen. Miss Fen, if you would like, there is an available private bother 4 cars down. I’ll get someone to show you.” The attendant said.

“Wait, who was that? I mean, I get that he was a prince, but I never paid attention to who was who in the imperials.”

“He’s the Emperor’s 3rd child, from the twins his second wife gave him. He is fourth in line for the throne. However his uncle’s children are more popular than him, and will probably be declared more worthy. He might get bumped down to 7th in line.” The attendant said with a gossipy tone.

“Yeah, I figured he was the Emperor’s progeny from his second wife, with his uh, looks and all.” She mused. “You think he would be less stuck up being so unlikely to seize power.”

The attendant looked at her wordlessly. Oh right, she kicked herself mentally, people who believe the imperials to be divine considered it heresy to say anything bad about the imperials. She coughed, and then asked for the person who was supposed to guide her to her new booth.

Her new booth on the train was smaller and less finely decorated. She tried to meditate but kept thinking about the young prince. She then tried to map the imperial family in her head, it would be important if she was going to work for them.

There was the Emperor Tiberius, and his brother Atticus. They had lost all of their older family members in the Red Sickness, except for their second female cousin Julia who had married Tiberius. The Emperor had a son named Cicero. The boy was sickly and died a few weeks after his birth. Julia died in childbirth and Tiberius had controversially remarried.

His new bride was the daughter of one of the ruling families of Firia. His foreign wife, Kourin, was so different to the Harrian rulers. Her skin was darker, her features more delicate and angular. Her hair was fine, black and silky instead of the normal course wheat coloured hair of the Harrians.

There were many who hated her physical differences, and hated that she had passed them on to her children. Emperor Tiberius and Kourin then had their eldest child Haru. Next were the twins, the boy Jin and the girl Aiko.

Were there more? Fenris couldn’t remember.

She knew that the Emperors brother Atticus had his own children, all blond haired and blue eyed.

Some of the temple sisters were so enraptured by the Imperials. They knew all the high ranking staff and gossiped and spread rumours about the imperials love life. Fenris had always viewed it as a waste of time.

Her train of thought was broken by a knock on her door. “Miss Fen?” It was the voice of the attendant from earlier.

“Yes?”

“Uh, did you hide your luggage?”
“No.”

“Oh, it’s just that you don’t have a lot.”

“That would be accurate.”

“Oh. Well, here’s your bag, Miss Fen. Would you like anything to eat?” The attendant asked lamely as he handed her the small bag of belongings.

“No, thank you.”

“Very well, we shall be there within the hour, Miss Fen.” The attendant gave an awkward bow and left.

She breathed in deeply. Perhaps now she would finally have some peace. She pulled her twin daggers out of her belongings sack to sharpen them – the rigorous cleaning and caring for weapons always helped her make her mind go blank like calm water.

***

The train car shuddered as she heard the sound of something heavy landing on its roof. She stood at once and slid into her defensive striking pose, her daggers poised dangerously.

She nudged her door open a crack with her foot and peered into the corridor of the train car. She couldn’t see any movement in the narrow passage way. She closed the door and locked it. Fenris then moved to the window and opened it. She took in a deep breath to steady herself, and the slipped one of her daggers back in its sheath. She held onto the other dagger with her mouth.

Fenris opened the window and climbed out of it. She gripped onto the side of the train. Wind ripped at her, threatening to break her grip on the speeding train. Grunting, Fenris hauled herself up the side of the train. Her shortish hair whipped around her obstructing her vision slightly.

The outside metal of the train was painfully cold as she held onto it, climbing to the roof of the train. She could see a dark figure a few cars away, making its way slowly to her old car on the train.

Fenris quickly realised that it was harder than she thought it was to stand on top of a train while it was in motion. She found her centre of balance and moved as quickly as she could towards the figure.

She caught up to the figure quickly and harshly grabbed them by the collar of their dark clothes. This proved to be unwise, as they twisted sharply and she nearly fell off the train.

The person she had grabbed gave a surprised grunt, they sounded masculine.

They drew their arm back, moving as if to punch her she took a quick step back from them, and released her grip on the person.
Fenris crouched down low; one hand gripped the trap door that led down to the princes third car for support.

The person was surprised but the sudden lack of Fenris’s grip, and they slipped and fell off the side of the speeding train.
A cry of fear left their throat as they did so.

Fenris dug one of her knives deep into the wood of the train, and then used that knife to help her keep grip as she moved to the side of the train the person had just fallen off.

They were still holding onto it. And they seem to be trying to get in the window.

Fenris moved as quickly as possible, and jumped down the trap door into the train. She barged into what had once been her old room, knife drawn.

Prince Jin was helping the person in through the window.

“Sir, what are you doing?” She asked, her breath slightly raggered from her exertion on top of the train.

Prince Jin looked at her with cold, calculating eyes. The man from on top of the train was now standing inside, and was brushing dust off his clothes.

“I am your prince, and I need not ever explain myself to you. But suffice to say this was the first of many tests, to see if you are worthy for my family’s employ.” He said, and gestured to the man. “If Tander had been an actually competent ruffian, I could be dead by now. This shall be taken into account when I report to my father on your abilities. Leave now.”

So Fenris went back to her cabin, bemused.

***

When the train finally came to a stop, Fenris was ushered off and led to a horse drawn carriage. She noticed that the young prince Jin was also being led to a more lavish horse drawn carriage. The footman offered her a hand to assist her into the carriage which she ignored.

The short journey from the station through the city to palace was rough. The street was paved with cobblestones. Tall thin houses lined the road. It was beginning to become dark and she watched as the coal-gas lamps that lined the street were lit.

Horses gave neighs and snorts as they came to a stop outside the doors of the Imperial palace, the footman again offered her a hand for exiting the carriage that she again ignored. Fenris stretched and cracked her neck. She picked up her bag of belongings and moved to enter her new place of employ.

Servants opened the large front her doors for her and offered a polite bow. Somebody offered to take her belongings from her; she declined, which induced some kind of brief moment of panic in the person.

They explained that she needed to be searched before moving any further into the imperial palace. Her luggage was searched, her person and even some places upon her that she had no idea how a person was supposed to smuggle in items using.

They took her knives.

A well-dressed servant of some kind approached her after she suffered the indignity of having every crevice searched. He was wearing the imperial purples on his suit, with brass buttons. “The young lady from the temple I presume?” He asked.

“Yes, call me Fenris.”

“Hmm, his magnificence is waiting for you. Do not tally, Miss… Fenris.” The imperial servant replied snootily.

She was lead to an office. And she saw the Emperor.

Everything about him screamed aristocracy. He had a simply regal pose. He was in his late forty’s or early fifty’s, and still possessed wheat coloured tightly wound curls on his head. He had piecing green eyes. He was tall, and thick with the muscle of a military leader.

Next to him sat the young prince Jin. Whose face still had the same smug satisfaction that it held of the train. There was other, if not all, imperial family members also in the room. However Fenris could not pull herself to pay attention to them.

Her eyes were caught by who she assumed was Jin’s twin sister Aiko. The princess was astonishingly lovely. Of course Fenris had assumed that all of the imperial family was beautiful. It was well known that ruling class was supposed to be flawless.

But Aiko was unearthly in Fenris’s eyes. She had long black hair, with a cherry blossom hair piece binning it back. She wore a long lavender coloured dress. Aiko’s skin looked smooth, tan and unmarked.

Her eyes were beautiful, they were a light hazel. They were slightly larger than her twins and contained warmth that his did not.

Fenris felt her face grow flushed as she realised she was starring. She quickly looked at her feet.

“The temple sister?” said a deep voice, and Fenris looked up to see the Emperor had addressed her.

“Yes, your highness, although I never reached the rank of official sister. I am an accomplished Hushist .” She replied. She was unsure where to look. She was certain she should not stare the Emperor in the eye, but she felt silly staring at his shoes.

“Very well. Do you know why you’ve been summoned here?”

“Just that the servants of the Deity were asked to provide one of their own who could be loyal to the Imperial family without regard to the Deity.” Said Fenris, quickly glancing up, the family was studying her intently.

“Yes,” said the Emperor, “although you will primarily obey me first and foremost.”

“I can do that, your magnificence. How do you need my services, I mean, I assume you hired a temple trained Hushist with a job in mind?”

“Don’t be so presumptuous. But to put it simply I need a killer to catch a killer. We will talk more once security has properly finished the background checks and you’ve been looked over again.”

Fenris was then quickly escorted away. She again caught the eyes of Jin and his sister Aiko, but soon tugged away from their view. She was led to bedroom that doubled as a study or office. She was searched again. She had no idea what they were searching for, what did they expect an official killer for the imperials to carry?

The servants left, and Fenris was left alone. She did a quick look over of the room to make sure nobody was hiding in there, locked the door and window and feel into a deep sleep.

[J.O.N ((Dragonwing))]

I like what you've written so far, but I believe you can get more detail down. The premise for it interests me, I always love a bit of steampunk.

[Jaylenrup]

Chapter Two


She had to wait 3 days for all of “back ground and security checks” to be complete. In that time she was mostly confined to the room, with nothing else to do, she resorted to physical training and mediation.

She was also given documents detailing all of the imperial family, her new masters. She read over them several times.

On the fourth day, Fenris was called to join the Emperor as he had breakfast. He was taking it in his bedroom, and when she entered he waved his servants to leave the room. He gestured for her to sit, so she did so.

He was making a show of them being alone together, or at least, pretending that they were alone together. She knew that there were others still in the room, she could hear the breath of someone 2 metres behind her.

The Emperors hidden guards clearly thought they were better hiders than they were.

Was this another test of competence? Or rather, what kind of test was it? Was she to point out the hidden people or was she to ignore them? If this was a test to see if she would lunge at the Emperor the first moment she was alone with him, point out others would not help. But if this was a test of her surveillance skills, her failure to note them would also not help her.

She mused on this dilemma as the Emperor continued to eat his breakfast, he seemed to relish on her waiting for him.

Fenirs made a decision. “Your magnificence, I would be happy to teach your guards how to hide in your room better. At the moment, it is too easy to spot them.”

She heard a startled gasp from the person hidden behind her. Perhaps she was not supposed to spot them then. The Emperor of Haromen eyed her levelly.

“I simply mean that the protection of your person would be helped if your guard were more subtle.” Fenris said hurriedly, “If it is not too imprudent of me to say so, my emperor.”

The Emperor continued to stare at her, Fenris felt absolutely tiny under his gaze.

“You job is to do what I say, not to guess at what I want.” He told her, his voice steady and deep.

“Yes, sir – I mean, yes your magnificence.” Fenris said, feeling like a small foolish child.

The Emperor sipped at his green tea, his features thoughtful. “The enlightened have brought many good things to our lives – the locomotives and airships that allow us to travel rapidly, better medicines, and their interests in mathematics and philosophy have been broadening the minds of younger generations – causing them to seek out further education rather than picking pockets.”

Fenris did not know that to say to that, so she bowed her head slightly and remained silent.

“However, broad minds also have a down side. Intelligence breeds dissatisfaction. Rather than all of the masses accepting that it is my right rule, rather than simply obeying the laws of the divine – they think. They evaluate my ruler-ship every step of the way. The intelligent people seemed to be interested in the short term outcomes of my ruler-ship rather than understanding that I have a long term plan.” The Emperor paused to sip at his tea again. “I am not foolish man.”

Fenris had heard the enlightened argue that it was the unequal distribution of income and wealth in a society that bred dissatisfaction amongst the people. But she kept that to herself.

“I do not mind the people being able to talk amongst themselves intelligently, but I dislike some of the traitorous thoughts that have begun to begin to be linked to this so called enlightenment. Treasonous thoughts can turn to violence – and I fear they have. There have been attempts on my family’s lives and I suspect the more radical leaders of the enlightenment. I wish you to uncover this plot and destroy those you would dare to hurt my family.”

“As you command, my master.” Fenris said with a bow of her head.

“Somebody tried to poison Haru’s food. His taster died. I would suggest you start there.” The emperor said, and waved his hand. The ‘hidden’ guards emerged. “You are dismissed, Miss…?”

“Fenris.”

The Emperor gave a languid smile. “You are dismissed, little wolf.” The guards stepped forward and escorted her out.

***

Fenris spent a fruitless hour quizzing the imperial head-chef and his miniature army of well trained staff. None of them had seen anything suspicious that day, and none of them, to Fenris’s instincts, were lying. The servers knew nothing either.

There were no new members of the kitchen staff, all of the, had passed rigorous background checks and it seemed like they all had a genuine affection for Prince Haru.

One of the scullion maids seemed keen to gossip with Fenris about just how kind and handsome Haru was. The maid introduced herself as Temperance, and she snuck desserts to share with Fenris as she gossiped about the imperial family.

“He’s just so gentle, and he always smiles for his cousins. And the rumour that the Emperor wants his daughter, Princess Aiko, to be his heir instead of Haru doesn’t seem to bother him at all! I mean, I know that the imperials always choose the most worthy heir instead of the eldest, but still! Haru seems worthy to me, and have you seen his eyes? I could just drown in them-” the maid Temperance babbled.

After a time, Fenris excused herself with a polite murmured of thanks, and told Temperance to come to her if she thought of anything weird that happened the day that Haru had nearly been poisoned.

A winded messenger caught her as she left the kitchens.
“There you are!” he exclaimed, “I’ve been searching the whole palace for you. Miss Fenris, Princess Aiko wishes to see you in her chambers.”

“Sorry, I’ll head there now. Could you show me where that is?” She asked the messenger.

***

The Princess’s chambers turned out to be up two flights of stairs.
“This is it.” The messenger said outside a large, solid dark wood door. He then scurried off, proably to have his break.

Fenris gave a hesitant knock on the door; and she was ushered inside.

The princess’s expression was a blank slate as she spoke, “you’re the new assassin?”

“Yes, my princess,” Fenris replied.

“Hm, not quite yet. Father has said we are personally allowed to make use of you.”

Fenris had no idea what to say to that, so she simply bowed her head lower.

“Very well, I have an awkward situation that requires sorting out. Lethal force may be required, but I’d rather if it was avoided, do you understand?”

Fenris assumed this meant the princess wanted to know if the household’s new assassin was simply a brute to be used for specific situations, or if Fenris could be capable of more. She gave a quick nod.

“A serving girl who used to be in my employ has disappeared with some of my confidential letters. I’d prefer that father not know about this slip in my judgement of character. I need those letters burned and I’d prefer the serving girl brought back to me alive, I have a few questions for her. “The princess said, and then shot a quick glance to Fenris, “do you understand what I’m asking of you?”

“Yes, my princess. It shall be done quickly and quietly.”

“Good,” Princess Aiko said, seeming satisfied. “Do you have any questions?”

“If I may have the name of the serving girl, the last time she was seen, and a physical description or portrait of her. And has she sent demands to you yet?” Fenris replied, keeping her eyes down with respect.

“She has not sent demands yet; I assume she has not yet gotten around to blackmailing me. Or perhaps she had an attack of conscious.” The princess said, her voice seemed wistful. “Rise,” she suddenly commanded and Fenris did so. The princess hand her a collection of documents. “Everything you need is in there, including a picture I personally painted of her. I am still somewhat naively hopeful that her simultaneous disappearance and the documents were but an awful coincidence.” The princess paused, looking sad. “I was quite fond of Harmony, you must understand.”
Fenris simply stood, feeling awkward.

The Princess seemed to shake her head to clear her thoughts, “those letters must be destroyed, and it was foolish sentimentality that got in the way of me doing so originally. Go.”

“As you command, my princess.” Fenris replied with a bow, and left the princess’s quarters.

She took the collection of documents to her own room before looking at them, and found the information she needed to track down the princess’s traitorous servant.

[Jaylenrup]

Chapter Three – Seeking Harmony

The Emperor gave her permission to leave the palace and track down the princess’s servant, and he did not ask too many questions about what the servant had done.

Fenris had never been in the capital city, Havilion. Her lifestyle of being a lower servant of the Deity meant that she never left her home city of Gan. And her current mission for the Princess finally gave her a chance to explore.

Her few glimpses of the city at night as she was drived into the palace seemed like a completely different to the city during the day. She could barely see the cobblestone underfoot due to all the people. Market stalls had sprung up like toadstools.

Vendors called out to her as she passed, trying to entice her to their stalls with promises of luxury silks, delicious food and bargains.

Every now and then along the street, some council’s attempt to pretty up the dirty city resulted in boxed patches of dirt that the national emblem of Haria sprouted up from, the huge reddish-brown mushroom that could grow up 6 metres, and in some regions of the land, much much taller. In the boxes of soil there were also the smaller mushrooms, toadstools and fungi native to their nation.

The street smelled of smog, sweat and the heady scent of market food. She saw a sign that pointed towards the railway track that passed through the city, and another that pointed towards the dock for airships and normal boats alike.

She headed towards the dock. The traitorous servant, Harmony, had done a poor job of covering her tracks. Several servants had noticed one night she was acting particularly strange before she disappeared. The kitchen maid Temperance pointed Fenris to one of them. Nobody escaped the eyes of the gossipy kitchen staff.

A large Ranthian Islander who worked as a chef in the kitchens had been on smoke break when he noticed a hooded figure leaving hurriedly, headed towards the airship docks. The Islander, his dark features marked with a facial tattoo of his people, had even told Fenris that he doubted Harmony had left yet. Fenris thanked him with a smile and a gold coin, telling him to tell her if he remembered anything else. He then “remembered” that he had once heard her say she had family in the Northern Province, and no airships left for there until 3 days from now.

Fenris was thus headed towards the airship dock to see if anyone there had seen a person of Harmony’s description asking about heading north. If this turned up nothing, she decided she would also check out the trains and the boats, but she believed the Ranthian Islander’s information was good.

She walked with purpose towards the dock, at a pace that would let blend into the crowd and not draw suspicion. The dock quickly came into sight. The one that catered to river boats that came along the green murky waters of the Myber was unimpressive and small.

The river dock's neighbouring building, on the other hand occupied a large space and eyes could not help but be drawn to it. She could see on the ground some half inflated balloons, with people scurrying around them and giving out orders. In its centre was a tall thin tower, much taller than the city buildings, which the conductors used to watch and direct airships.

Mid way up the tall tower was the airship dock. It jutted out the side, with railings for the ships to anchor to. A ship was currently docked, floating in the air. Its semi-rigid form bobbing slightly. Overhead, Fenris could see another ship far up in the air circle downwards, preparing to dock.

The momentary pause in the rhythm of her walk to look at the towering dock gave her enough time to be certain that the small dirty boy was still following her. She pattered her pockets, letting the clink of coins sound out. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the boy lick his lips in anticipation.

Good. Fenris moved slowly, pausing briefly at a market stall to inspect some of the shop keeper’s wares. The boy moved in closer.

Fenris walked straight towards the dock. The security guards present there would force the pickpocket to make his move now or just give up on her. The boy clearly picked the first option, and he began to speed up towards her.

An amateur.

The boy leaned in to relieve her of her money. She caught is hand deftly, and pressed her other hand to his mouth to supress any sound of surprise. She locked eyes with him and then glanced at her belt where one of her daggers was barely visible. The boy’s eyes widened.

“Not a word or you’ll bleed out on the street.” She said softly. Terror flickered in the boys wide eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

He gave her a hard stare.

Fenris thought quickly and said “Come with me and I’ll give you a job where you can earn some money legitimately.”

The pickpockets expression grew cynical, but still held traces of fear. Fenris pulled him around a corner so she could talk to him better.

“Listen lady, I’m not going to do anything funny no matter how much you offer me, I’m not a wh-” the pickpocket began to say.

“I had nothing like that in mind,” Fenris cut him off sharply.

“And I ain’t gonna work in one of those factories. A friend of mind lost his finger doing that.”

“Not those sort of work either. I’m in a business where I need
information.” Fenris said as she drew a coin out and began to roll it over her fingers. “Kids like you hear a lot. I could also use you to distract someone who is currently doing a better job of following me then you were.”

The kid looked at her, clearly interested. She judged he need the work bad, the only way to describe him was ‘grimy’.

“Know anything about a lady leaving the Imperial Palace? She was headed to the docks?”

“Nah, I just work the markets. Too many guards stand watch near the palace, I keep well aways from there. And there this group that works the docks, and I don’t want to get in their way.” The pickpocket said; Fenris suspected he was holding something back, but didn’t push it.

“I suppose you wouldn’t have heard any plots to overthrow the Emperor or his family?”

The boy gave her a weird look.

“Very well.” She flicked the coin to him. “If you ever hear anything relating to Imperials that would be important to someone tasked to protecting them, I’ll pay you more. For now, distract the man in the blue waistcoat with the heavy black cloak. He’s following me. I like my business to be private.”

The boy gave a contemplative nod and scurried off.

That was Tander, the Prince;s assistant, dealt with. Fenris highly doubted the Princess wanted her brother to know her personal business. Right. It was time to stop dawdling and find the traitorous Harmony.

***

The airship dock was even more impressive up close, where she would see the fine stone work without having to peer at it through the smog of the town.

She strode to the ticket booth, and spotted a bored looking young man working there. His hair was closely cropped and the same colour of mud brown as her own hair was. “Excuse me, sir.” Fenris said with her best apologetic smile. “Do you know if my sister came through here? She was leaving town and forgot some of her things. I just hope I can catch her in time!”

“Look, ma’am we get a lot of people through here-” the man said, not bothering to look up from the paper he was reading.

“She was heading north to our relatives, she would of came here recently, I have a painting of her.”

“The only airships that go to the north leave on the end of the week. 3 days from now.” The man said in a bored tone. So far it seemed like the Ranthian Islander’s information had been good

“Please sir,” Fenris said in a desperate tone. “Have you seen her?” Fenris pushed the portrait the Princess had given her of Harmony under the man's nose.

The man glanced up and fixed his stare on the portrait. “Oh her,” he said with the disgust and loathing that only someone who works in customer service can hold for an extremely irritating customer. “She came in two days back demanding to get to the North. Would not hush up about it. Started shouting at me about it. And then demanded the company pay for her boarding till then. Your sister would not leave until we led her to hotel rooms and said she could stay till then. She had to pay though.”

“Oh thank you! Yeah she can be a bit annoying at times.” Fenris said and gave the man a sympathetic smile. “What’s her room number?”

“I’ll need confirmation you are her kin, look bad on the company record otherwise.” The attendant said, the bored tone of ritual creeping into his voice again.

“Of course.” And Fenris waved ID the Imperial Palace had given her at the man, he barely glanced at it.

“A5, through those doors and to the left.” The man gestured and looked down to read his paper again.

“Thanks.” Fenris said and followed his orders until she reached Harmony’s room.

***

Harmony was slightly less beautiful than she was in the picture the princess had painted of her. The portrait was painted from the best possible angle and the most flattering light. Harmony seemed almost plain.

Her pouty little mouth was pulled into a line of disdain, and one of her perfectly plucked red eyebrows was raised. “I didn’t ask for room service.” She said.

Fenris crossed the threshold and placed the rag that had been dipped in chloroform and held it hard against Harmony’s mouth and nose. The traitorous servant struggled briefly and then started going limp. Fenris lowered her to the floor and locked the door.

“Huh, that worked better than I thought.” Fenris mused to herself. She knew that her fellow Hushists at the temple favoured the chloroform-on-the-rag trick, but she hadn’t dabbled much with it. “Anything from being an anaesthetic for an Empress during childbirth to an instant sedation for marks,” Fenris thought aloud.

She wasn’t sure how long Harmony would stay unconscious. She doubted it would be long enough to cart her the whole way to the Imperial Palace, and even if it was, she doubted she could do so and not receive any questions from the ticket booth man.
Fenris made a decision.

She searched Harmony’s persona and room for the letters, going methodically through all the bags. Fenris swore heavily when she found none, but did find a large some of currency lining the bottom of all of the bags. She scratched the back of her neck.

Fenris glanced at Harmony’s form on the floor, and swore some more.

[Jaylenrup]

Chapter Four – Interrogation

Fenris was knelt over Harmony with her dagger in plain view when the servant awoke. She was sluggish, and slow, but blinked her eyes rapidly at the dagger and then seemed to be about to scream.

“Shush.” Fenris said firmly and the girl whimpered. “Your name?”

Harmony looked slightly befuddled.

“What is your name?” Fenris repeatedly and lightly touched the blade to Harmony’s throat.

“J-Jenna.” Harmony stuttered, her eyes flickered to the door, obviously planning an escape.

Fenris straddled the servant. “Liar.” She said plainly, “what is your real name?”

“Harmony.” The servant sobbed, clearly terrified.

“Good. Now where are the letters?”

“They’re gone,” Harmony spat, defiance creeping into her eyes again.

“Where are the letters?” Fenris repeated, and pressed the edge of the dragger slightly harder to Harmony’s throat. The blade broke the skin, and a trickle of hot red blood slid down the girl’s throat.

“Oh Diety, oh science save me, oh Diety,” Harmony gibbered.

“Enough. Where are the letters?”

“I sold them already. Easier than blackmail.”

“I suspected as much. Who to?”

“No names.”

“Physical description? Accent? Place?”

“I-it was dark, I don’t know.”

“Well then how did you meet them? You’re holding out on me, Harmony dear.”

“I think he was one of the enlightened. Wore a grey cloak. Sounded like he could be from the east. I swear that’s all I know!”

Fenris paused, humming with thought. “Very well, I’m taking you back to the Princess.”

“Like the damned you are!” Harmony said, and metal flashed. Fenris rolled to the side, but the tiny blade had cut deeply into her upper left arm. Fenris quickly regained control, punching Harmony in the face. And then delivering a blow to the girl’s temple with the handle of her dagger.

The servant yelped with pain, and then went slack.

“Oh bloody damnation.” Fenris muttered. She ripped one of the bed sheets, and used the cloth to bind up her arm.

She left the servants room, carefully locking the door and windows first, and went to the man standing attendance at the front desk. She gave him her best winning smile, which was perhaps marred by the blood that was seeping out of her bandaged up arm.

“Can I use your telegraph?”

***

Carrying Harmony’s unconscious body to the Horse drawn carriage clearly provided by the Imperial palace raised a few eyebrows of spectators. But the attendant helped her divert their interest after she had paid him some hush money.

Harmony started to stir again on the carriage ride back to the palace, Fenris panicked and hit her again.

Fenris chastised herself on the way back. This was bad. Very bad. This was going to be the worst first impression of her skills ever.

She would be fired.And considering the Temple had all but kicked her out, she would have nowhere to go. She didn’t have any skills besides those lethal ones the temple had taught her.

Actually, considering the Emperors demure, she would be straight up killed

Very bad indeed.

Okay so, the servant had sold information that the princess wanted to keep silent to the Enlightened. A group of people who believed in bettering human life through scientific advances. The most extreme of which believed that the Imperials were getting in the way of human advancement and had to be disposed and replaced with a council of the best and brightest humanity had to offer.

Which meant that the Princess’s letters contained information that could damage the reputation of the Imperial Palace.

So not good.

Returning with the servant in question was a plus. Not having the letters was a negative. The scene being so public was also a negative, additionally having possibly damaged the thinking capabilities of the servant was also potentially a negative.

Tiredly, Fenris rubbed the heel of her hand in her eyes.

It had been a rather negative day.

The carriage came to a halt, and palace guard opened up the doors and picked up Harmony’s body.

“Take her to the Princess’s room.” Fenris ordered, and jumped out of the carriage and followed the guards escorting Harmony’s body.

***

The guards lay Harmony’s body on the shocked princess’s recliner. Fenris gave a nervous little bow.

“My princess, I have brought you the traitor Harmony alive, as you requested.” Fenris said humbly, looking at her feet.

She heard a male laugh with a deep golden voice.

Princess Aiko tittered, “I believe I said I wanted her alive so I could personally question her, not unconscious and bleeding out on my furniture.”

“There was, uhm, complications.” Fenris said hesitantly.

She heard the deep male laugh again. She glanced up. Lying casually on the princess’s bed, with a book in hand was the Princess’s eldest brother. He was studying Fenris with merriment in his eyes.

Where Prince Jin had been coldly handsome, and Princess Aiko had been beautiful, Prince Haru was … Pretty. There was no other way to describe him. His dainty, yet male physique, his dark long eyelashes and silky black mussed hair - he was pretty.

Fenris quickly realised she was gawking and looked at her feet. “Sorry,” she murmured helplessly.

“I shall simply have to wait to till she awakens. Did you burn the letters?” Princess Aiko asked.

“That was part of the complications. The traitor has already sold them. I tried to get who she sold them to out of her, but she was resistant.” Fenris said ruefully and rubbed at her sore arm, causing fresh blood to seep through the bandage. Her arm felt weirdly heavy, and she tired.

“I see.” The princess replied, Fenris could hear worry in her voice. She had been distracted by talking to the princess and perhaps blood loss that she hadn't noticed that Prince Haru had gotten very close to her.

She turned her head slightly and saw him standing only a pace away from her, his dark eyes studying her impromptu bandage. His darkly tanned hands gently touched her arm, and he began unravelling her bandage.

“My prince, I-” Fenris’s breath caught in her throat when the Prince’s gently probing hands touched the area around her wound. Pain lanced through her.

“Hush.” He said to her. She caught the faint smell of citrus on the Prince’s clothes. His body was very close to hers. “Aiko, may I have your sewing needle? I never get to practise on living tissue and it would be a waste to pass her over to that fool of a quack Jung.”

“Yes, oh most royal doctor.” Princess Aiko said with a teasing tone. “I never use it anyway.”

“And bring me a chair,” the Prince said to one of the gaurds.
Fenris swayed slightly on her feet. People hurried around them. She was gently pushed down on a seat and the prince crouched by her side with cloth, warm water, and a needle and thread.

Fenris tried explain that it wasn’t appropriate and that she had to continue reporting to the princess. But some gave her a skin of wine, and ordered her to drink for the pain.

She could hear people talking over her, but her head felt light. Once again the smell of citrus flooded her nose.

“Are you ready?” Asked the soft and deep voice of Prince Haru.

“I’m fine.” Fenris protested.

The Prince began sewing her arm up. It hurt a little, but not so much that it warranted all the fuss that was being made, though she supposed it was because the Prince was operating on her that such a fuss was needed to be made.

She gritted her teeth and looked to the side, not wanting to watch the needle be threaded in and out of her own flesh. She looked into the dark honey warm eyes of the princess and flushed.

“I’m sorry my princess, as soon as I know more I will find and burn those letters.” She said, Fenris thought her voice sound kind of hollow.

“I should have suspected this.” Princess Aiko seemed to say to herself.

“Are these the letters we spoke of?” Prince Haru asked. Fenris could feel him tying off the thread.

“No. They’re something else.”

Haru gave a made a low grunt sound of acknowledgement. Fenris turned to look at her arm and noticed Harus face was very close to her own, his brow furrowed in concentration and he wrapped clean cloth around Fenris’s arm.

“Ah, thank you my prince.” Fenris said awkwardly, and gently tugged her arm out of the Prince’s grip.

“I assume you want to question your prisoner in private,” Haru stated in a somewhat business-like fashion as he stood and gestured to Harmony. “She’s awake now, she just faking.”

Harmony gave a frightened “eep” like sound.

“Thank you, brother mine. I’ll see you at dinner.” Princess Aiko said, with a formal little bow.

“Indeed, we’ll talk more then.” Prince Haru said with his own bow and left the princess’s quarters.

“Would you like me to leave too?” Fenris asked.

“No, not yet. Us three girls need some alone time.” Princess Aiko said, and gestured for the guards to leave as well. Soon they were alone. “I trust your arm is not so injured that you can’t hold her down?”

“No, my princess.” Fenris said, and held Harmony’s arms behind her back.

“Hello, Harmony. I’ve missed you,” the Princess said in a low dangerous voice.

“Well, absence does make the heart grow fonder.” Harmony spat, having given up trying to pretend she was still unconscious.

“I’m not sure if that’s entirely true, I was painfully fond of you before your disappearance.”

“And now?”

“And now I feel foolish. Tell me, why would you do this to me?”

“Money, my princess.”

“So I see.” The Princess said, sounding sorrowful. “You know I can’t let this pass.”

“You always were possessive and controlling.” Harmony said scornfully. The princess slapped her. Harmony spat blood and then gave a red, toothy grin. “I suppose that comes with the territory.”

“When did you grow to hate me so?” The princess said, and naked hurt shone in eyes.

“It’s more that I never loved you.”

“Then why? Why make me trust you so, why make me-” the Princess cut herself off, and furiously wiped at her own eyes.

“Whatever I say you’re just going to kill me or lock me up anyway.”

“I could set you free.”

“My princess, with all she knows, I’m not sure that would be wise.” Fenris interjected softly. She was beginning to realise what was going on here.

“Well my lover, everyone here knows that’s untrue.” Harmony said.

“Please, Harmony, who did you sell those letters to?” The Princess begged.

“Worried daddy dearest won’t approve? People like us are sick and tired of kowtowing to imperial whims.”

“I never forced you. I never even asked you. You were the one who came to me.” The Princess said quietly and licked her lips, looking like she wanted to say more.

“See you in the Deity’s embrace.” Harmony snarled. There was a popping and crunching sound. Harmony’s body began convulsing.

“No!” The princess said, her realisation coming too late. Fenris useless tried to take whatever was left of the poison capsule out of Harmony’s mouth, and tried to make her throw up the rest of it.

Whatever was in the poison was fast acting. And Harmony convulsed one last time and was dead.

Princess Aiko let out a cry of grief. Fenris trembled and cursed loudly. Those letters could have been mass produced by now. If they were explicit and damaging enough, no amount of damage control Fenris took would be all that helpful.

Definitely a bad first impression of her skills to her employers. A practically awful one.