Who is that?

Hera did her best to not seem annoyed by the people who were coming to talk to her. While they seemed to be appreciative of her accomplishments and who she was, it was pretty obvious that they only cared about the benefits that the empress could bring to them. Some were interested in her position as an aspirant hero, while others cared more about her presence as a high-ranking member of the alliance.

There were even those who seemed to only care about the prospect of becoming an Ophidianite. Bombarding her with questions about how the process was and how could they better prepare for when it was their turn. Almost as if it was already a sure thing that they would become one of them. Still, things slowly got better as the introductions ended and people started to mingle and actually enjoy the party.

After Hera was able to manage sneaking out of the main group, Freya was the one who found her on one of the balconies of the venue. Not the ones that had a way to look outside, but the ones that overlooked the actual dance floor.

"Hera, it's so good to see you." Freya went in for a hug. One that Hera responded in kind.

"I'm really happy to see you, Freya."

"I had no idea things would get this wild. I mean, the last time we saw each other you were just saying that you were going to stay behind in and live in a dungeon for a while," Freya looked down to the party.

Hera chuckled. "Yeah. And honestly, that was a good call. I really don't think that it was going to be good for anyone if I was near people back then."

"Especially after..." Freya looked down, not wanting to bring up the subject.

Hera nodded. There was no need for her to put into words what happened. It wasn't something that the Empress would ever forget.

"It sucks, but I made my peace with it. Quite literally. Everything we did back then was on a timetable and it had to be done. And that's just what we did," Hera let out a sigh. "Right now. I could have saved her. If things back then had happened today."

Freya nodded. "I get the feeling. It's not exactly regret but kind of like a 'I know better now'"

Hera nodded. "It's not exactly that feeling, but yeah, that's close enough."

The empress glanced down and saw how Wildborn, Insomniac, and Nereus were sitting together at a table along with a dwarf. They were speaking somewhat loudly and, by the looks of it, Wildborn had just challenged the dwarf to a drinking contest. She saw a few servers approaching with about eight bottles of a special type of liquor that Nereus had mentioned during the council meetings that could even make a high level explorer get shit faced.

It was a pet project of his and the drink was going to make its debut during this event, since it was supposed to be a celebration. The council had voted against his proposition, but it seemed like the Triton Sovereign decided to take matters in his own hands and brought the drinks even against everyone else's better judgment.

"By the way," Freya spoke up, making Hera focus on her again. "I had something I wanted to ask you."

She pulled her tablet and opened a picture. In there, there were two teenage girls. One had long blond hair, very sharp features, full lips and a look that almost made it seem like she was posing for an advertisement picture. While the other had softer features, a face that was a bit rounder and a more pronounced nose. Her hair was also shorter and less cared for. Not that the second girl was disheveled or didn't seem to care about her appearance. But the first girl was just so beautiful and had a presence about her that made the other girl pale in comparison.

However, Hera didn't care about any of that. She had a much more pressing question in mind once she saw that second girl.

"Why do you have a picture of my mother?"

"So this really is your mother?" Freya asked.

"Yes. I still don't know why you have her picture."

"Before I answer that, do you recognize the other woman in that picture? Do you have any idea who she is?" Freya asked.

Hera stopped and looked at the picture again, but she couldn't recognize the woman, no matter how hard she tried. However, there was a sense of familiarity about her.

"It almost feels like I do, but I can't remember ever seeing her. Why? Who is she?"

"That's my mother," Freya replied. "That's a picture she took with her sister."

"Wait? Are you saying that we're cousins?"

"She and Stella don't talk anymore. But my mother even tried to reach out once you 'died.'" Freya made some air quotes. "But even then, according to my mom, your mother didn't want to talk to her. And something tells me that you won't want to reach out to her to confirm. At least not according to what my mother told me."

"How did your mother tell you anything about me? I never even met her."

"No, that's not what I meant. My mom talked to me about what your mother is like. And I have a feeling that you don't talk to her anymore."

Hera sighed. "You're not wrong there. But still, I don't know how to react to that information. I mean, on one hand, I'm not going to reach out to Stella to ask for confirmation. Especially not after the last thing I heard about her. And on another hand, I'm not entirely sure a DNA test would even work right now. With me I mean."

"Yeah, I imagine the same thing. What did you hear about your mother? I don't think I saw anything about her after she was on TV saying how you could never be a terrorist because she raised you better than that."

"Yeah, she did one more interview. It was after I revealed who I am. She basically said I was a liar because there was no way that her daughter would choose to give up her body to become a half snake thing. Like it was a personal offense against her to give up the body she made, which is just very Stella." Hera shook her head.

"You know, I think I understand why she didn't contact you," Freya said.

"Right, and sorry if I'm being a bit direct but why are you telling me this? We can't really be sure unless I talk to Stella, which is not going to happen for various reasons. But I just don't understand your angle here. I don't think you're the type who would want to exploit our relationship in some way."

"No, no, yeah. Of course not." Freya quickly replied. "I have no intention of exploiting anything. I was just wanting to share something that I wasn't sure if you knew. You don't have to worry, I'm not going to try to use this against you or anything. But my mom did ask me to invite you for a coffee sometime. She would love to meet you. And I'm 80% sure she's really thinking about getting to know you as a member of a family. But she's also an editor for a fashion magazine, so I can't promise that she won't try to get you to accept a photo shoot."

"So your mom really is a model?" Hera changed the subject.

"Yep, she was one for a very long time, but now she takes care more of the editorial part of things. Not that she doesn't model every now and then, but it's not her focus anymore. Oh, by the way. Complete change of subject, but do you know what happened with the guy who tried to take Zaxalan from you?"

Hera frowned. "Who?"

"The one who ordered Helena, Bonnie, Alex, and Blue to kill you."

"Oh? That guy? No, I have no idea what happened to him."

"He was just arrested last night. Or two days ago, sorry. People are going after everybody who was corrupt in the guild and he was one of the people they gathered up. Which also means that he won't be able to return to the MAZE unless you, specifically, forgive him for what he did against you. As those are the rules, but in this case, don't do that. I don't think people like that deserve to be back in the MAZE. It wasn't just assault. It was attempted murder."

Hera nodded. "I agree with you. But at the same time, I do have a soft heart. I don't think it would be that strange if I end up forgiving him."

Freya shook her head. But Hera simply smiled.

"I think in 200 years or so I will finally be able to say this was all water under the bridge."

Hearing that, Freya couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm glad to see you have such a soft heart, Hera." The woman said with a chuckle.

Before they could continue the conversation, the Empress looked down, being called by Typhera, who was talking with a few people. With a sigh, she left the balcony while Freya stayed behind. She was also a bit tired of all the madness that was happening downstairs.

Typhera needed the Ophidianite to discuss a few issues related to the transfer of power to Brinefront. She was asking her for some help to deal with some of the details of that transfer of power before they were going to return to their respective homes. Unfortunately, this was part of the annoying aspect of being an aspirant hero. There was a lot of politics that Hera had to participate even though she didn't want to.

The conversation lasted way longer than any of the participants wanted, but there were many, many issues that had to be brought up before they felt confident things wouldn't escalate into something even more complicated. Once that was done, Hera finally had a chance to walk away again. And that's when she stumbled closer to Insomniac.

She had only briefly talked to him after saving the man from the lab, but even on the following days when they were traveling together, they kept a certain distance from each other. Not for any particular reason they just never felt the need to talk to each other, especially with everything that was still going on.

"Hera, or should I call you aspirant hero now? Or Empress is more appropriate?"

"Hera is fine. The rest is just unnecessary." The empress replied.

"I'm glad you are willing to look past formalities. I'm going to be honest, I don't know how I would interact with you otherwise."

"Are you worried you're going to say something that's going to upset me just because you're a bit sleep deprived?" Hera asked while looking to the side and seeing Nimbus and Filigree excitedly talking to a group of humans who seemed to be very interested in what they had to say. They didn't look like they were members of her court but individuals on their own rights, acting independently and doing whatever they wanted to be doing. Which always made the Ophidianite smile.

"Is it really that obvious?" Insomniac sighed.

Hera chuckled, "A little bit. The bags under your eyes are not as well hidden by the makeup as you might think. Besides, seeing how you every so often just stare into space. And that is something I know you only do if you are a bit sleep deprived."

Insomniac frowned. "How do you know that?" he asked.

"You mentioned it in one of your interviews. A few years back. I think I was just finishing high school."

The man was surprised by the response. "And you remembered it?"

"I followed your work,. You were and still are, the strongest explorer in the MAZE. Thank you for that."

"I'm going to ignore the part that this feels a bit weird and just take it as a compliment."

Hera nodded with a smile. "I appreciate that, too. I only realized what it sounded like once I spoke out loud."

She glanced around again, seeing Livy and Blue talking with Lurize near Wildborn, who was getting more drunk by the second, "Say, do you think I could ask for some advice? Maybe as a payment for saving you from the lab?"

Insomniac chuckled. "The payment would be much more than just some advice. That I can give for free. You deserve it."

With a smile, Hera continued, "I realized, a while back, honestly, but only recently that came to mind again, that I don't have a good finishing move. I have one option, but it's very costly mana wise and takes a lot of time to prepare. I kind of wanted something that I don't need to spend everything to do while also being powerful enough to be useful, you know? So the question is, do you have a suggestion? Like, what can I do to get a finishing move?"

"That's a beautifully hard question. I would need to know what your fighting style is like. Would you be willing to share?" Insomniac smiled.

Hera tapped her feet on the ground and created a soundproof bubble around them. She made a point of not hiding it as the green tint bubble surrounded them and added a layer of mist coming from Daskka around their faces so no one could read their lips. When she was done, she started explaining her abilities. But in the back of her mind, something else was going on. She was looking at the strongest Explorer to ever live hoping that he was willing to give some pointers so the empress could, potentially bridge the gap between their powers ever so slightly.