Dance of the Damned

Set Off

A few hours ago,

"Are you ready?" Madam Lottie asked, staring out at the garden in front of her. It is still very dark outside save for the moon's light.

"I am," Juliet said, smiling at the woman before putting her mask on. "I believe it is time we made our move."

"They should be here soon." As soon as she said that, a simple carriage pulled up to the front of her apartment. "Speaking of the devil."

The two wore their cloaks and pulled the hoods over their head as they walked out of the building and into the carriage.

They were met with some surprises in the carriage though.

"My, I did not expect to see you here." Madam Lottie said to Teri seated on the seat opposite to them, her simple peasant gown hidden in the cloak.

"I didn't want to be here either." She said, pulling the hood over her face even more as if the mask was not enough to hide her.

"Now, don't be like that." Madam Lottie chuckled, pulling her hood back to reveal a father sticking out of her hat. "If Roshi asked you to do something, is it not a good thing that you do it?"

"I suppose." She sighed. "But I do not think I am as useful as I would like to think I am. I am just here in case something goes wrong."

"That is a very useful job." Madam Lottie nodded. "By the way, Teri. May I ask, why are you here?"

"Did I not just tell you-?"

"I mean in the guild." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you in the guild? What made you come here?"

"I wish I knew." She sighed. "Roshi was the one that invited me here. I would have never heard of this otherwise."

"He promised you something, did he not?" She asked leaning in closer. "Mind telling me what it is?"

"I apologise, Madam Lottie. But I do not think I am under any obligation to tell you about this." Teri said firmly.

"You are right." She agreed. "But I am curious to know more about Roshi. After all, as soon as I met him, he sent me off. I never did get the chance to know him as a person like Carvill did. SO, would you indulge me a little bit?"

Teri looked at her with a sigh while the carriage continued on its way, "Alright. But I will not answer personal questions about myself."

"Wonderful." She clapped her hands together. "Now, what should I ask first? Oh, does he have anything he considers as his favourite?"

"Favourite?" Teri thought deeply. "He does not have a favourite colour. But he does like wearing white."

"He looks dashing in white, so I can understand that." Madam Lottie said brightly.

"I have never seen Roshi be picky with foods. He eats and drinks whatever is given to him by Carvill. So I do not know his favourite foods."

"Roshi is not like any children out there, I suppose having the gift he has does have a lot to do with that."

"There is one thing I do know is his favourite."

"Do tell."

"He likes the feeling of silk." Teri looked at her hands, remembering the look on Micah's face when he got the gift from her during phase one. "He says that it feels ... untainted."

"Silk. I see." Madam Lottie tapped the mask, thinking. "His birthday is coming closer. I think I should like to give him a gift. Would you like to go shopping with me, Teri?"

"Birthday?" Teri asked, frowning slightly. "May I ask, when is it?"

"Oh? You didn't know?" Madam Lottie said with a slight chuckle on her lips. "It is on the seventeenth. So it is not very far from now anymore."

"How do you know this?"

"I have been a frequent visitor in his house." She explained. "So, what do you say? Should we go find something for him once this is all over?"

"I suppose we can," Teri said, chewing at her lower lip. How did I not know about this? Am I the only one that does not know? He never does talk about himself.

"It is only I and Carvill that know about his birthday." Madam Lottie said, as though she read her mind. "Perhaps even Thunder knew but that is only because he is a family friend of Roshi's."

"He is a family friend?" Teri asked, looked at Madam Lottie with a tilt of her head. "I did not know that."

"Do you know, Roshi's real name then?"

Teri kept silent, she never did try to find those things out. Those, she believed, are his personal life and she did not wish to pry too far.

"His name is Micah Pober. I suppose you have heard of the Pober family?"

"I have." She nodded. So he is part of that family. No wonder I thought his estate seemed familiar.

"His family were influential people in the main capital." Madam Lottie said, "But they moved to the outskirts of this capital for reasons unknown even to me. I tried to find what the reason was but I could never find it.”

“One would think that they will try to live quietly after moving from the capital but they were more active than before. Organising parties for the people and also helping where they could. That tells me that they were not trying to run from something. Or to hide from something. Any ideas, Teri?”

The carriage lurched slightly as they began to leave the kingdom to enter the other one. Their ‘target’ kingdom.

“I do not know,” Teri said, thinking. “Why are you so interest in Roshi’s personal life anyway?”

“Who would not be?” She chuckled. “Even after knowing everything there is to know about him, I still do not know anything. If anything were to happen to him one day, it will only keep leading to dead ends. Is what I feel.”

“I do not feel very comfortable talking about his personal life,” Teri said, fiddling with the end of her cloak. “I hope you do not mind this, Madam Lottie.”

“Not at all, dear.” She said pleasantly. “What about we change the topic. Is there anything you wish to ask me? It can be about Roshi or anyone else really, perhaps Carvill as well.”

“I would like to ask about Carvill,” Teri said, thinking. “I cannot guess who he may be. But there is something I am more curious about.”

“And that is?”

“Roshi and this … ability of his.” She said, frowning. “What is it exactly and how does he know these things? His predictions are so accurate it is almost like he has this map of what everyone is doing or going to do in his mind.”

“That is a question everyone wonders about.” Madam Lottie chuckled turning to Juliet who had not spoken a word since she entered. “What do you think, Juliet?”

“About Roshi?” She asked.

“Yes. About Roshi and his … abilities as Teri puts it.”

“I do not have a clear idea.” She said, thinking while the carriage began to pick up speed. “But there are several speculations. One is that he is not human but an entity that came down to help. Another is that he is blessed with the gift of seeing into the future.

“This could translate into different ways. The theory I feel is most possible is that he may have this gift that allows him to see into the future as well as what decisions lead to which outcome.

“That would explain why he is able to see which decision will make the best outcome and why, sometimes, he will suddenly change the decision. That is just my thought.”

“You seem quite knowledgeable in this aspect,” Teri said, impressed.

“Juliet is a priestess from a Temple in the Capital.” Madam Lottie explained. “While I was there, we happened to meet and talk to each other. It seems she knew of Roshi from the Capital.

“While he was there, his parents brought him to her once and she became fascinated with him. Though they never did bring him again. Unfortunately.”

“I began to see if I could find more people like him and I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were quite a few,” Juliet explained. “Just in the kingdom itself, so I wondered about other kingdoms."

"There are other people like Roshi?" Teri asked, frowning slightly. "That is incredible."

"It is," Juliet said brightly. "They were all gifted with the same gift. Every one of them. BUT that is where Roshi is different."

"What do you mean?"

"From what I have observed and heard, Roshi has been able to predict things to scary accuracy," Juliet said, holding her hands out. "Whereas the others would be only able to predict something specific.

"For some, it is the negative aspects of a person's life. For others it is love. And for those on the broader aspect, they only get flashes of what might happen."

"So this means?"

"Roshi just may not be human."