Preparation

"Hera, my dear. I understand you're bored out of your mind, but please try to keep some composure. Just until we are done with this," Typhera said as she finished signing a document.

Hera was leaning back on the chair, looking up at the ceiling with both arms slumped by the side of her body. "There is no one here. What's the point?"

"Consider this practice for the next meeting. I would really appreciate if you weren't as... Jittery," Typhera replied and started to check the next document on the pile.

"That was not my fault. You all spent 40 minutes arguing about the right kind of card box you need to use to send people's stuff back to them," Hera shifted, now sitting properly on the chair. "Nobody cares. We were at war. Any belongings that they had are assumed to be lost forever. Just by getting them back, they will be happy. And you already have set up people to cast preservation spells on the boxes. What does it matter if one of them looks better or is sturdier than the other? Just send whatever you have."

"What kind of message would that send to the people that work so hard to protect us?" Typhera frowned.

"That we found their stuff and we're giving them back. Everybody will understand that we are giving priority to giving them their stuff instead of finding the right type of box. Also, why do we have time for that? I can think of 20 different things that are more important than that," Hera glanced at the Harpy Queen and noticed a small smirk appearing on her face.

"Wait," the Empress paused, "How do we have time to be arguing about something like that? It's only been a couple of weeks since the war ended. The amount everybody said they will have to pay is way too much. How come are we doing that? We should focus on rebuilding."

"Why do you think that is?" Typhera stopped reading the document and just stared at the Empress.

"Because... we aren't? It doesn't make sense for us to be doing that, so we're not doing it," Hera frowned.

Typhera sighed with an amused expression. "And you just made me lose a bet."

"What? Was that not real?" Hera tilted her head.

"It was real in the sense that it happened, but it wasn't a real problem. The meeting was supposed to have ended 40 minutes before we started the discussion, but everybody agreed to spend half an hour putting you through a little test. Could you handle the kind of politics that usually happens in times of peace," the Queen of the Children of the Sky looked down. "This is still very weird to say. If it was up to me, you would never not be at peace. You know."

Hera nodded. "I do. But why are you testing me? It would be like an interview for a job I don't want?"

"Kind of. You are the Ophidianite Empress. This means that your people will have to deal with the politics of being part of the alliance, and no one has a higher authority amongst them than you. Just saying that you are really hard and you're just part of other species is fine, but you are actively searching for a way to give your people a seat at the table. Meaning, you will need to participate in this kind of politics."

Hera let out a loud groan. "Can't I just leave all that annoying party to someone else?"

"Do you have anyone who's a part of your species to do that?" the Harpy Queen asked.

"You know I don't. Even the people who had skills that would let them ascend are still trying to get to that point."

"Then I'm afraid you are the one responsible for them. Besides, this will be the last day for a while. So just push through. If you really hate this that much, I suggest you start scouting people who might be interested in this part of the politics. Unless you give up your position, you will still be required to participate every now and then, but you can just dump the heavy load onto someone else."

Hera sighed. "I don't even know how to start looking for people who might be a good fit for that. My guess is that anyone who would be interested would probably start abusing their power."

"That is a good possibility, but I'm sure you will eventually find someone. If you would like, I could keep an eye out for anyone who might be interested. Then again, it might not be prudent to take someone who works in a different government for that kind of thing. Unless they are retired."

Hera rolled her eyes. "Do you want that job when you retire?"

Typhera paused and looked at Hera for a moment. "Is that a real offer or are you just joking?"

The Empress glanced at the Harpy. "I am lost. So, yeah. It is a real offer. Don't know how long you're still going to be in power, but when you step down, if you want to join my species, let me know. I promise I will be kind when considering your application," she gave the queen a playful smile.

Typhera chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. If I'm being honest, I know of a great number of Harpies who are interested in becoming Ophidianites. The increased lifespan alone is more than any of us could ever dream of. And I do enjoy my work, although I don't believe I would be spending another 200 years doing it."

Realizing the Harpy had actually put some thought into that, Hera decided to continue working while taking this conversation a bit more seriously. "Just let me know. I do believe it might take around a year for someone to reach the point of going through the ascension. I mean, it's been almost six months already and neither Shane nor my dad are particularly close. Both of them have skills in rank 3, but that's it. Then again, they are not actively training those skills. All improvements are coming from drinking the essence."

With a nod, the Harpy Queen passed another document to Hera. This one talked about the supplies needed by a room that was not destroyed during the battles but had very few people available for maintenance during that time. "And do you know how to train those skills to make the process quicker?"

"Honestly, only one of them. The scales. And that involves getting hit a lot. I do feel that the Ophidianite Poison skill should be increasing the more I use the poison, but I'm not completely sure if that's really happening," the Empress shook her head. "What they are asking is wrong. Some of the things they're talking about here wouldn't be damaged in just a couple of months. I'm guessing they are trying to get the alliance to pay for some of the repairs they have to do in the city. And if they're trying to do that, maybe people in charge would pocket some of the money," she passed the document to Typhera.

The Queen took a look and nodded with a satisfied smile. "Well done. You are right. This sounds a bit suspicious. I wouldn't go jumping to the corruption assumptions, but it is something we should take a look at." She tapped a couple of things on her tablet. "And just so you know, the concrete they are asking here is not as strange as it seems. They are in a room where they don't have the materials to make it, and there doesn't seem to be any place nearby that could supply it. But the extra metal, power lines, and this medical equipment all raise some red flags for me."

Typhera placed the file on the pile that needed to be checked and turned to Hera. "Congratulations. That was the 200th document. You're free to go."

"Wait, really?" Hera jumped to her feet. The deal was that she was going to help the queen go through 200 different documents, only then she was allowed to leave. But Typhera was the one counting them and she refused to tell her how close she was to the end. "Are you sure you didn't lose count?"

"I'm sure. I have a skill that helps me count, and," she pulled a small notebook from under the desk with a tally, "I was keeping track."

Hera smiled. "Thank you, your majesty. I'm heading out," she quickly started walking towards the door.

"Thank you for all the help. And if you need any assistance while exploring Deakoshara, just let me know. We are neighbors, after all," Typhera smiled as Hera thanked her again and left the room. With a sigh, the queen glanced at the pile of more than 1000 documents she still had to go through and called her assistants.

She was only working alone to help teach Hera, but now that the Empress was gone, she might as well pick up the pace.

Hera quickly rushed back to Zaxalam. She wasn't going to start exploring Deakoshara today. After all, there were a few reports about the place she had to read. But at least she could go back to her home and enjoy not being stuck inside an office for another day. Whenever people talked about being a hero, no one commented on how they had to deal with boring stuff like budget requests and political drama.

Then again, that might not be an experience that every hero had. But one way or another, Hera was excited to finally be able to do what she came to the MAZE to do: Explore.

She arrived back home, checked in with her dad to make sure he was okay, and quickly gathered a group of people who had shown an interest in going to Deakoshara. That included Shane, Mylo, Alex, Bonnie, and a few members of the Royal Explorers, such as Farica, Callena, and Yerel. The others found the idea intriguing, but preferred to continue exploring Zaxalam. Considering that, with the war over, there were already talks about returning to Boothudurn, most of the dwarves were excited by that prospect. 

Despite everything, being part of the alliance and enjoying their current living situation, this wasn't their home. If given the chance, they would return without hesitation. For that reason, a significant number of the Royal Explorers were on standby, waiting for the moment they could assist in the journey back to Boothudurn.

There was one more person who joined the impromptu meeting Hera had arranged. Her name was Pandora, the newest member of the Royal Explorers. She had long red hair with a few braids woven into a bun at the top, while the rest flowed just past her shoulders. The dwarven woman had been heading out to a dungeon before being called to the meeting and was dressed in her full battle gear: shoulder plates, gauntlets, and boots all made out of metal that she had crafted herself, paired with leather armor covering the rest of her body for increased mobility. On her left shoulder, there was a peculiar attachment resembling a birdhouse, from which a small mechanical griffon occasionally poked its head and ignited objects with bursts of fire.

After introducing herself, so did the griffon. It was actually her relic, as Pandora was an explorer. The moment that information was revealed Hera gave Shane an inquisitive look, and she just nodded in response. Meaning that this dwarf also had the guide skill. That opened the floodgates for a great number of questions, but those would come at a later time as for now the Empress only wanted to know what people had discovered about Deakoshara.