Chapter 408 - [Bonus ]Day MDCCCXXXVIII, Part I

I started the day slowly, knowing that if I shadow walk straight back to Ark, and give Rishi the crystal, he might gather too much attention from other hunters while selling it, and I didn't want that.

It was better if only a few people knew about Loistavadvaar and the ghosts. So I decided to wait after the rush hours will pass, and then come.

I ate, took a shower, and did some reading to kill time, then returned to my room in the barracks. From there I went straight to Rishi.

I found him in the workshop. His father was nowhere to be seen, but other craftsmen were quite busy working on blades and shields. You could hear the power hammers working, striking the metal, and grinders, spraying the sparkles everywhere.

The young man was in his little corner, focusing on some piece of equipment, but I broke his concentration by placing my hand on his shoulder.

- What the f... It's you. What do you want? You just ruined my enchantment.

- Fuck that enchantment. I brought you a gift, come with me.

He sighed at first but a moment later he licked his lips.

- Ok, let's go... But where are we going?

- To the device - I said and grabbed his arm, to pull him behind me.

He followed asking me questions, but I kept repeating myself.

- Just come, and you will find out.

He eventually stopped and soon after we reached our destination. There were few people in the city center on that beautiful sunny day, but I made sure we were in a position to block the curious eyes with our bodies.

- I'm gonna put a crystal on the glyph, and I want you to sell it immediately. No questions, ok?

He sighed.

- Ok.

I pulled the red crystal from the vault and dropped it on the symbol. He glanced at it, so I had to push him to do what we were supposed to. He sold it, and his eyes and mouth got wide open.

- Holy shit!

- Shh! Shut up! - I hissed at him.

- What was that? Do you know how many class points, and normal points I got from that?

- I have a pretty good idea.

- Where... Ok, I get it... You won't tell me anyway.

- Even if I would, you wouldn't be able to do anything with that information. Nobody in this city would. Even I almost died there a few times already.

He nodded.

- Now, buy yourself some nice shiny skills and stuff, then think carefully how awesome should be the new weapon you are going to gift to me as a thankyou.

- I just gave you one...

- Yeah, but the one you gave me will be garbage compared to the stuff you will be able to do now.

- Oh... Right. Ok, I'll think about that. Thank you, Peter.

I patted him on the shoulder and then went to Velvet Lotus. I needed to find out where Ki'rai was, and also pick up Tam.

The lobby was empty except the pink-blue duo playing, this time, some kind of board game. They ignored me, even when I said 'Hi', so I just went to the main hall. It was getting cleaned up by a bunch of people.

- Aisha? - I asked them.

- Upstairs - said some guy.

So I went upstairs, all the way to the fourth floor. I had a corridor on my left and right, with a nice red rug covering the floor, which was then turning following the rectangular shape of the building. I just went left, and then started looking at the black dors. They just gad numbers, except the one which had a name, 'Aisha', on it.

I knocked.

- Whos there? - asked a familiar voice.

- Peter?

- Oh... Come in.

I did just that and found myself in a nice office. There was a big black desk straight ahead-looking from the entrance, with big windows behind it, letting a lot of daylight inside. On the left were few bookstands with actual books on them. Aisha was on the right, sitting on a comfortable couch with a glass table, eating a sandwich, and looking at some documents. Tam was next to her, standing and trying to look at the papers.

I sat on one of two padded chairs that were put on the opposite side of the table.

- Good to see you, Peter.

- You too.

- What brings you here? You don't visit me often those days.

- I came with a question, and also to pick up Tam.

- Okay... - she took a bite of her food.

- Do you know where Ki'rai is? I think I should talk to her.

- Finally. She is hunting wolves, probably.

- Thanks... May I? - I pointed at my chicken.

She blocked him with an arm.

- Hold up. I think there is also something else we should talk about.

- What? - my eyebrows shoot up.

- Will. You ditched a welcoming party for his family, why?

- We had an argument...

- So?

- I thought it will be better if I just... Leave...

She sighed.

- No, Peter. That wasn't better. In fact, that was way worse. What was the argument about?

- I don't know if I can tell you. It's about his family and stuff.

- The divorce, the fact that his wife is trying to cut his contact with Dustin, or the shady CIA agents?

- Ok... I guess then I don't need to tell you.

- He told me, but I wanted to hear it from you too. I know you are worried about him, but - She shrugged her shoulders - he doesn't have much choice. You shouldn't be angry with him, you should support him.

- I... I... I calmed down, and then I got to the same conclusion.

- Good. Did they talk with you too? The agents?

- Yeah. They offered me to bring my mother.

- I got the same offer from them.

- Did you agree?

- Of course, I did, but that doesn't mean I'm selling my should. Fortunately, I'm not in Will's shoes, so they don't have me by the throat. We need to be careful, Peter. We need to find out what their goal is, specifically, and then we need to get Will from the mess he is in.

- I know.

- Good. So stay around. We will need you. Jayadeva is already working on letting the world know us. He got invited for an interview with a state-owned TV channel in India.

- I'm not good with people...

- I know, but we still might need you around, so stay.

I nodded, and then she gave me Tam.

- Fix things with Ki'rai. She is furious at you - she added before returning to her sandwich.

I stood there, looking at her for a few seconds more, and then I left.