The ice and snow coating Salthalls glittered in the sun. Strong winds whipped clouds of mist past empty buildings and shook the withered thorn vines crawling across facades and roofs. Icicles dangled from one of the dead plants arching across the road, making it look like the upper jaw of an ancient predator. Its icy fangs quivered, not from the wind, but from the trembling of the ground as a large shadow blotted out the sun.
With loud shattering noises, something shaped like a huge maggot brushed the frozen vines aside as if they were mere spider webs. Metre-long spines protruded from its barky segments, reaching even the frozen vegetation connecting the roofs and tearing through them in a hail of broken icicles and plant matter. The being slowly inched forward and completely ignored the bombardment. Not even sharp-edged fragments tumbling into the gaps between its stiff segments and reaching the silk-like webbing underneath could catch its attention.
Two pinpricks of red light shone behind a tall window of one of the buildings burrowed half into the mountainside. Ami's breath condensed on the cold glass in front of her as she watched the crawling creatures scraping wide trails through the snow. She turned towards the room's second window, where seven insect-winged girls were huddled together.
Three of the fairies were leaning shoulder to shoulder on the windowsill, their faces so close to the glass that it was fogging up. Three more peered over them, also trying to get a good look at the wintery landscape. The final one had her hands on her sisters' backs to push herself up, rapidly beating her wings to lighten the load. Her hovering caused a strong breeze in the already uncomfortably cold chamber.
Ami cleared her throat to catch their attention.
Dandel, the eldest of the fairies, reacted first. The indigo-haired girl straightened and turned towards Ami. This caused Roselle's hand on her back to slip. The orange-eyed sister lost her balance, and her steady hover turned into an involuntary dive even as the buzzing of her wings intensified. With a startled yelp, she bumped into the small group of girls.
Some jostling, a chorus of startled noises, and an indignant screech when a cheek made contact with the cold glass later, all of the fairy sisters had noticed Ami looking at them and turned to face her.
She gestured towards the various couches and armchairs arranged around the room's fireplace in a wordless invitation, claiming a high-backed seat with red upholstery for herself.
Camilla, as the official Ambassador, sat down separate from the others in an armchair directly across the low coffee table from Ami. Roselle and Tilia picked the couch to the blonde's left, close to the fireplace. Dandel, Anise and Melissa took the couch on her right. Cerasse ended up in the armchair furthest away and brushed away a few specks of dust that had gathered there since the dwarfs had abandoned the surface.
"As you can see," Ami said, inclining her head towards the windows, "I have good reasons for delaying the construction of your new embassy."
Cerasse abruptly stopped her cleaning efforts and looked up. "What exactly are those creepy things?" she asked curiously. A moment later, her purple eyes widened in alarm and she quickly tacked on the "Your Imperial Majesty" she had forgotten.
"You don't have to worry about addressing me formally while it's only us here," Ami reassured her with a gentle smile. In truth, she still hadn't gotten entirely used to being treated like an Empress. For a moment, she wondered how many people would only talk to her painstakingly according to protocol out of spite if they knew it made her feel a little awkward. "As for your question, they are hives. Colonies of venomous bugs taking shelter in the frozen remnants of cacti."
The redhead wedged between Dandel and Melissa glanced at the amulet placed among the plates with snacks on the table. As it remained dark, there were no people scrying on them. Without hesitation, Anise took advantage of the absence of potential lip readers to accept Ami's offer and speak freely. "What in the world made you think it was a good idea to let those overgrown pincushions loose in the city?"
Ami scratched the back of her head. "Ah, that was unintentional. They are an undesired side effect of rerouting my dungeon's Corruption to the surface. Periodically cycling through different modes was supposed to make the different effects counter each other."
Dandel tilted her head to the side. "How does this lead to shambling plant husks, your Majesty?"
"A little overlooked problem," Ami admitted, her cheeks flushing lightly. "The cold part of the cycle was supposed to kill off the lifeforms generated by the hyper-fertility part, but then the river started freezing up and threatened to turn into a dam. I had to make some quick adjustments to exclude it, which unfortunately allowed some of the bugs to find shelter and adapt."
The fairies stared at her in silence, various expressions flitting over their faces. Cerasse raised a sceptical eyebrow, Melissa was blinking rapidly, and Anise narrowed her eyes in annoyance.
"... don't want to be pumped full of Corruption," Roselle muttered as she scanned the corners of the room for suspicious alterations.
"Right. Rerouting Corruption to the surface," Camilla said after a moment. "But, why? Why would you even do something like that?"
"To protect the rest of the city," Ami answered. "The idea is giving the Corruption an outlet so it stops enforcing its more, um, embarrassing themes elsewhere."
Tilia snorted. The emerald-haired fairy sat with her legs folded, demonstratively staring at Ami's short skirt through half-lidded eyes. "As if you would mind."
Ami felt the blood rush to her cheeks at the reminder of her undeserved reputation. She wringed her hands for a moment as she suppressed her first reaction and swallowed her protests. Arguing the point right now just was unlikely to change their minds. Instead, she let out a long breath. "Most of the people who live in the city do. They aren't as comfortable with suggestive outfits as you are."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Melissa growled, an uncharacteristic look of indignation on the usually placid fairy's face.
The fairies were wearing their white uniforms, which blurred the line between a one-piece swimsuit and a bikini. They covered even less than Ami's Sailor Mercury uniform and were, in her opinion, just a simple colour switch removed from looking like typical Underworld wear. With as little insulation as their clothing provided, the sisters had to be using some magic to keep warm.
"I mean that lots of people here have a low tolerance for bare skin," Ami clarified in order not to needlessly antagonise the fairies. She had a small request for them, after all. "In any case, I was hoping that you could contact your superiors to notify them about the current difficulties with constructing the embassy on the surface. If it's acceptable to them, the plans can be altered to build it underground instead."
Camilla briefly glanced at her sisters, but they were leaving the answer up to the actual ambassador. After a moment, she inclined her head in a nod. "That sounds reasonable."
She didn't sound very enthusiastic, and Melissa and Roselle showed slightly bitter expressions. The others were keeping their faces carefully neutral, but their postures shifted slightly as they tensed up.
It was clear to Ami that they weren't eager to report that except for Tilia, they had all formed minion links. Sure, it hadn't been voluntary, and Ami had severed them as soon as the sisters were able to think clearly again, but that wouldn't shield them from the repercussions. She had better distract them from their justified resentment for ruining their careers with something more pleasant, she thought guiltily.
"Good. In the meantime, you have free choice of accommodations. You may opt to stay with the civilians, move into the quarter reserved for the cured dwarfs, or into a temple," she listed. "If you don't like any of those options, you can also pick any building in the city. Just let me know first so I can keep the insane dwarfs away. Finally, if you prefer, I can also construct you a temporary home to your specifications."
"I believe a shrine would-"
"Can we have a heated pool?"
Dandel and Melissa, who had started speaking at the same time, stopped to look at each other.
"I don't mind if you discuss your options among each other first," Ami said.
Cerasse looked thoughtful. "I don't know, doesn't this feel a little like a bribe?" she pondered.
Dandel's pupils contracted, and she shot the purple-haired girl a look that all but screamed, "Don't say things like that out loud!"
Ami had to admit that Cerasse's suspicion wasn't entirely off the mark. While she genuinely wanted to recompense them for the hardships they had suffered, she also needed them in a cooperative mood. "You can always run your decision past your superiors first to avoid giving the wrong impression," she suggested quickly.
Camilla nodded. "That would be for the best if I'm contacting them anyway."
"Indeed." Ami hesitated for a moment before continuing with fake reluctance, "At the same time, you may as well ask for permission to attend a gala Duke Libasheshtan will be holding to celebrate his appointment as Regent of my Empire."
The blonde was about to nod before she froze, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping.
"Wait, what?" Roselle asked, sitting up straighter.
"Did you say 'Regent'?" Melissa asked, blinking.
"Are you serious?" Anise seemed the most incredulous of the lot.
Ami had to stop herself from giggling at their flabbergasted expressions. She was pretending to be annoyed about the devious dwarven plot, after all. In a flat voice, she answered, "It was the only way the dwarfs would agree to opening negotiations with me, even if it's over a middleman."
"And you are willing to go along with that, your Majesty?" Dandel asked curiously.
Well, yes. It was Ami's own plan, after all. Still, she did her best to sound grumpy as she answered, "Their laws don't really leave me a choice. It's either going along or forcing them to consider their citizens lost and hostile combatants, with all that entails."
Camilla gulped. "Yes, that would be horrible."
"So you want to avoid a fight," Tilia said. The somewhat smug twitch of her lips indicated that she was coming up with her own conclusions about Ami's motivations. "So why invite us? Wouldn't you want to keep such an embarrassing predicament secret?" At that point, she wasn't putting much effort into hiding her glee, which earned her a warning look from her eldest sister.
"Well, I'd prefer not to go along with all of this only for the dwarfs to back out of the deal as soon as it's convenient," Ami said. "The more public the proceedings, the greater the shame if they break the agreement. Thus, having an ambassador from the Shining Concord Empire attend will greatly reduce the chance of open hostilities resuming. Besides, your presence will reassure other diplomats that they have nothing to fear from me."
Anise jumped to her feet, her face red. "Nothing to fear? You turned us into monsters!" she yelled, pointing her finger accusingly at Ami.
Next to the redhead, Dandel twitched and bit her lips, and then urgently tugged on her sister's wing to try to get her to sit back down.
Ami shrank back in her seat. While the redhead posed only minimal danger to her, even considering her magic, being shouted at by someone with a justified grudge still made her uncomfortable. "That- that was a complete accident! I turned you back as soon as I had a cure!" she defended herself.
"Because you had already achieved your goal of turning us into your minions!" Anise countered. She winced when the tugging on her wing became painfully insistent. With a sideways glare at her indigo-haired sister, she let herself fall back down on the couch.
Ami shook her head. "But that doesn't make sense. If that had been my goal, then why would I have sent you to Salthalls, where I would have very little control over the situation? It would have been much more straightforward to just transform you at my dungeon."
"To serve as a distraction? Plausible deniability?" Cerasse speculated, earning herself a grateful nod from Anise.
Ami sighed. "No. What would I have to gain from making you form a link just to sever it again? Without even keeping it a secret?"
Neither Anise nor Cerasse had an immediate answer. In the sudden silence, Roselle muttered, "Now that's a question that's certain to keep me up at night."
"Well, it's evil," Melissa pointed out. "Keepers do evil things for no particular reason all the time."
Ami hesitated. That was a frustratingly simple argument that was nevertheless true and somewhat undermined her position. "Well, I don't!" she said lamely. "I wouldn't make more unnecessary trouble for myself by causing you harm on purpose. That would be completely pointless and counter-productive!"
Melissa frowned. "Still turned us into minions and ruined our future," she said and turned her head aside with a resentful sniff.
Ami averted her gaze from the dark looks the seven sisters sent in her direction. "And I'm really extremely sorry about that," she said quickly. "I will be offering restitution as soon as I can make sure it won't be interpreted as bribery or cause you further complications," she added. In a firmer voice, she clarified, "It was still an accident, though!"
Tilia uncrossed her arms and straightened her spine so she could deliberately look outside. "You do seem rather accident-prone. Sounds like it's a good thing you will be getting some adult oversight soon, doesn't it?"
Dandel clapped her hands. With a strained smile, she said, "I believe it might be best to return to the topic of the gala, your Majesty."
Ami relaxed her grip on her armrest and smiled gratefully. "Ah, yes. As I said, it would be most convenient if you brought it up with your superiors along with the possible blueprint change and the issue of your interim lodgings. You probably want to avoid giving the impression that you were doing me a favour."
Anise, with her arms crossed, immediately interjected, "Which it would be. Camilla, I'm not sure we should be doing her a favour."
Ami narrowed her eyes. "It's a favour to everyone currently living at Salthalls, as it will help keep them alive. Avoiding further combat is in everyone's best interest." She turned her head to address Camilla directly. "Besides, isn't meeting important people part of your job as an Ambassador anyway?"
"That's true," Camilla admitted.
Tilia leaned forward. "Wait a moment, important people? Nobody important is going to risk entering a dungeon, right? Especially after what happened!"
"Actually, that won't be a problem," Ami said. "Duke Libasheshtan isn't holding the gala here, but at one of his other holdings." With a theatrical wave of her hand meant to avoid startling the fairies, she transported a map into the room.
The roll floated towards them in mid-air before slowly unrolling. It drifted down until it hovered a hand's width above the mostly untouched snacks.
"There," Ami said as she pointed at a location south of Salthalls with a hovering fork. "Fortress Nailcastle."
The fairies farthest away got up to get a closer look.
"Nailcastle?" Roselle said, frowning worriedly. "I can't think of a single way in which that name inspires confidence."
"The rock spire that the castle is built into is called 'the Nail', since it's tall and pointy," Ami explained.
Cerasse took a step forward and studied the map, her eyes darting back and forth between the different settlements. "Well, I can't fault the dwarfs for not expending much creativity on naming that place. It looks like a complete backwater."
"Makes sense," Anise nodded. Raising her hand to hide her mouth, she stage whispered, "Wouldn't want to invite her anywhere important," and promptly earned herself a reprimanding kick to her ankle from Dandel.
Ami pretended not to have heard the redhead's comment. "Nailcastle is the Duke's outpost farthest from Salthalls that still has a suitable ballroom and a hero gate. As for guests, well, the Avatar will be attending. Perhaps you could convince him to put in a good word for you with your superiors?"
The fairies sat up straighter.
"The Avatar?" Roselle's orange eyes gleamed.
Cerasse nodded after a moment of thought. "It makes sense he would want to be there to keep an eye on things."
"It certainly sounds like an opportunity..." Dandel considered, sounding as if she was still trying to find fault with Ami's suggestion.
As the sisters started chattering among themselves, Melissa addressed Ami: "Empress Mercury, will General Jadeite be attending the gala too?"
Camilla closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.
Ami felt a flicker of irritation. "Unfortunately, his presence here at Salthalls remains necessary for sustaining the eyesight-restoring glamour on the cursed civilians, I'm sorry to say." She wasn't feeling very sorry at all.
Melissa's face fell briefly before lighting up again. "Right, I can just find him here instead."
"There won't be any shortage of interesting people to meet at the gala," Ami said. "Aside from dwarfs, there will also be human and elven delegations."
"Sounds fun," Roselle commented. "Will there be good food and music?"
Ami nodded in confirmation.
"Well, I'm game. It will be great to get some proper daylight again."
"I wouldn't want to miss it either," Anise said. She was facing her sisters, but watching Ami from the corners of her eyes. "Empress Mercury having to accept an appointed regent! You can't get that kind of entertainment elsewhere!"
Camilla quickly cleared her throat. "Ahem. Right. I'll see what I can do to properly represent the Shining Concord Empire at this memorable occasion, your Majesty!"
"Good." Ami nodded and got to her feet to signal that the audience was over. "Duke Libasheshtan is in charge of the preparations. Contact him if you require an appropriate wardrobe or other supplies."
Following her example, the fairies stood and made various polite noises of gratitude as they bowed. Dandel's bow was the deepest, while Anise's was barely more than a nod.
As the group was taking the first steps toward the door, Ami called out, "Oh, Anise? Stay for a moment, please."
The redhead froze, blood draining from her face. She slowly turned back to Ami, a light sheen of sweat on her forehead as she was apparently starting to regret her confrontational attitude.
Her sisters stopped too and watched with concerned expressions. Dandel in particular looked ready to step protectively in front of her ruby-eyed sister.
Ami wasn't petty enough to let the group worry just because one of them had been a little aggressive. Quickly, she raised her left hand, palm facing the ceiling, and reached into her Keeper storage. A clear, elongated crystal filled with complex glowing conduits appeared floating above her palm. "Do you recognise this?"
Anise's eyes widened in surprise, even as some tension faded from her body. Her right hand rose as if she wanted to reach for the gem, only to change direction after a moment as she crossed her arms.
"Do you still remember where you got it from?" Ami asked even as she moved the crystal a little farther away.
The healed transformation victims generally kept their memories of the experience, which included the knowledge of how to perform magical techniques they had access to as a youma. Granted, most of them were unusable without the matching body, but it would be relatively simple for a talented mage to derive a functional spell from knowledge of the incomplete ability.
Ami was understandably wary about someone being able to create crystals that could control her troops.
"Yes," Anise admitted. "I found it in a crate full of gems."
Ami breathed a little easier. The thing being some kind of dwarven treasure was preferable to it being potentially mass-producible. "Where?"
The fairy tilted her head to the side. "Your treasury, obviously. Where else would one of your command tokens be?" After a moment, her pupils shrunk in sudden realisation. "I didn't mug anyone for it!" she said, raising her hands defensively.
"A command token?" Ami asked, somewhat distracted by the question of how something from Salthalls could have ended up inside one of her sapphire crates.
Anise shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I don't know your name for it, but that's what I call it. Since it's used to command your minions."
"I see." If anything, Ami had more questions than before, and her eyes narrowed. "What makes you so certain it's one of mine?"
Anise shot her an incredulous look. "Well, what else am I supposed to think when it's in your treasury, in a crate with your emblem on it, works on your minions, and has your shadow inside?"
"It has what now?" Ami blinked wide-eyed at the crystal that had just skipped ahead in her priority queue.