Welcome to Gaia! ::

Axinite offered the same, standard smile he always seemed to have on his face when he had an audience, but there was something different about it. His desk was meticulous, and everything seemed to have been organized in a strangely cold way. There were no cookies on the desk, no tea brewing.

Just him, waiting.

He gestured for her to take a seat.

“I hope you can forgive the summons, I know it was a bit impromptu. It’s just,” his eyes never strayed from hers. “I’m afraid I’ve had some unsettling news and I needed to speak with you immediately. Please, come sit down. We’re not strangers, you and I. In fact, I find that I’m rather fond of you. It’s why I’m so concerned about all of this.”

Axinite watched, and listened, and then, he sighed. The smile faded and he tapped his fingers thoughtfully atop the desk before him. “Someone’s written me a report about you. Naturally, I wanted to deny it.”

He slid a sheet of paper from a stack and slid it over. At the top, her name.

Several paragraphs of report—all about her, were printed on the page. Any identifying names had been redacted but the information Axinite had been given was all painfully clear.

Someone thought she was a potential traitor. A threat. Someone who might run away. And worse—join the enemy.

“I was hoping you could tell me you’ve just made an enemy somewhere who wants to hurt you. Ideally I’d like to hear that you’ve got a rival amongst us that is so threatened by your prowess they are trying to instill distrust and contempt towards you.”

His own emotions were tempered—polite, but not warm. “I was hoping you could tell me that this isn’t true.”

But he had already expected the worst. He read it in her demeanor. Her posture, her tone, her expression. She was nervous, as if she had something to hide.

Arguably, most people were nervous when he called them to his office. Regardless of his efforts to be courteous and polite and kind and welcoming he was still a General King. He was still a man to be feared.

Especially if you were planning on betraying the Negaverse.

She was afraid.

He derived no joy from the emotion, it was just a fact. He was not lying when he said that he had grown fond of Cavansite, and to find that this report was factual…

He had known it already. Wanting something to not be true was human, but he couldn’t deny the facts. She couldn’t deny them.

He sighed heavily. “I know, Cavansite. You’re a good officer. We would be at an extreme disadvantage to lose you. And, selfishly, I’d miss you and your reports. I don’t want to punish you. But if I do nothing, you understand what poor judgment that would be. But I believe you. I know you want to be better. I know you don’t want to fail me. So let’s go over this.”

He tapped two fingers on the paper before her.

“Why don’t you tell me what was going on so I can understand what happened?” Now, his voice was soothing again. “You don’t have to be afraid. It’s my job to make you stronger. To make you better. We are humans—imperfect creatures who make mistakes every day. We need only learn from them. And, I have made a mistake as well. I let you walk this path. I didn’t see where you were headed. So let us both learn from this, let us improve. Let us grow stronger. All right?”

He reached across the desk and took her hand, giving her a small, reassuring squeeze. “Would you like some tea?”

Axinite kept his hand on Cavansite’s and moved easily; while there was no warm kettle in sight, he pulled two cups out of a drawer in his desk—and a canister. He opened it and poured two cups of warm, flowery smelling tea. He didn’t spill a drop and almost never allowed his gaze to stray from the General. When he was finished, he closed the canister and tucked it off to the side of his desk. He took one cup for himself and slid the other to her.

Every few seconds he nodded.

“They are deceptive, are they not?” he prompted softly. “I suppose I should have worried, sending you into their clutches. Many of them have magic, you know. Designed to simulate complacency. Friendship. Obedience.”

He shrugged. “I’m sure it must be confusing, wondering why she made that choice. I’m sure you’ve wondered if it was the right choice, if it was something you should look into? But, trying to understand something can sometimes lead us to making desperate, illogical choices. I wonder if, in your haste to understand her, you found yourself trying to think like her. Trying to be like her so you can comprehend why she would leave this life.” His words were soft, suggestive. “You were investing yourself so deeply that you got caught up in things. Perhaps you simply didn’t spend enough time doing what you enjoy, doing what makes you you. It’s a poison, tricking you. Eroding away at your thoughts. They paint a pretty picture but at the end of the day, what do they have to offer that we don’t?”

It was another question; he was fishing for information, trying to understand better who had swayed her—and how.

He nodded, observing her silently. He reached for the canister and refilled her cup of tea. His own was untouched so far but he had only poured it out of politeness. His hand was still gently wrapped around hers.

“It is easy to be swayed by promises and novelty. But at the end of the day, their worlds are still dead. By their own hand. It is unfortunate, but I suppose anyone with the heart of an adventurer would be compelled to venture new lands. With Earth as it is, there is something charming about those other worlds. Devastated as they may already be.”

He shrugged but did not expand on any personal interest in space exploration.

“Not liking the Dark Mirror Court is not a deal breaker. There are many that find them unfavorable. Though, we do follow Queen Laurelite’s command—and Metallia’s—that we leave them in relative peace. There is no reason to give them any conflict when we have so many knights and Senshi to worry about. I’ve always thought it was a bit sad, that they think they’re fighting for the right thing. That they are so convinced they are justified. They grasp at strings, looking for some meaning, some justification. They have no one—and yet, we have Metallia, who has guided us without fail. Who is our support, our protection, our power.”

He paid attention to her eyes, her breathing, her hands.

“It is in time of doubt that we can rely on her. It is not wrong to have questions. It is not wrong to explore what the other side has to offer. It is only wrong if you let them poison you. There can be benefits to walking so closely among them. They trust you. They are looser with their secrets. They want to ‘help’ you. They share information, assistance. They let you know them. They are weak. But, that is when you must strike, Cavansite.”

Another gentle squeeze of his hand on hers. “You are not a traitor until you betray us. And you are still ours, Cavansite. Are you not?”

Axinite smiled again. “I know, Cavansite. I had faith in you. I hope that in the future you know that if you are ever having doubts, or any troubling thoughts, you can come to me. No judgment,” he assured. “I only want to help you. Perhaps we can take this opportunity to go over some of your methods—some of the people you’ve interacted with so far? I’d like to hear which ones are the most troublesome. We can work on readjusting the workload you’ve been given.”

He seemed relaxed; his smile had returned and he seemed like he was genuinely invested in both her research and working out how to lighten the stress and workload she had taken upon herself so far.

“We’ll figure out what we can do to lessen that workload. I won’t have you taking on too many things at once again, that was my mistake. But we’ll work through this, together. I’ll make sure you have the resources you need to succeed.”

He drew in a breath and sat up a little straighter. “I have a solution to your problem. A safeguard against their manipulation. It’s painless, effective, and it comes with a boost of energy—and it brings you just a little closer to Metallia. It’s not something we like to advertise, it’s not necessarily particularly risky but it is a bit of an effort to make. I wouldn’t trust it to just anyone, Cavansite.”

He offered her a gentle look. “I’d like to trust you with it, though. If you’ll humor me. I think it could really help you.”

“Probably,” Axinite replied. There was a bit of sympathy in his voice but even now he seemed reassuring, supportive.

He wanted her to be agreeable. He wanted her to make this easy for the both of them.

“You are in Special Operatives and, as a General, I know you’ve been entrusted with information we wouldn’t pass around to just any officer. You know about the youmaglia.”

He watched her cautiously, still trying to read her. His demeanor was unreadable, his masks impenetrable. He was speaking about it as easily as if they were discussing the tea he’d served her.

“I suppose they might have a bit of a bad reputation though, given their function. But you’d trust me, of course, to use one responsibly. I was, after all, the head of a very prestigious Special Operatives branch not so very long ago.”

A shadow crossed his face, but it was gone nearly as soon as it had arrived.

Now was not the time to reminisce, not the time to show weakness.

“I know how to utilize them effectively. You wouldn’t even know it was there.”