Levels of Trusts

Luimei dug through his desk, he was grabbing the documents left to him by the Kingdom and Empire. Scratches covered the back of his hands and there was mud splatter on his boots and the bottom of his robes. It must have been important, the Chief was always a clean freak, he hadn't even taken the time to clean himself up, which meant that it was dramatic and involved.

'Can I trust her?' "There was a disturbance in the foothills. There was a landslide, I managed to survive along with our driver, but the residents near the Magister's Mansion were not so lucky" There were only a few possible reasons for Minnie to have been in the Offices that late, he asked "Minnie, Why exactly are you here? Its well past office hours." It dawned on him.. His sentries had already left, escorting Fedora Jones to the dungeon. "Minnie, you should answer me." The look in his eyes was one of severance. He was cutting her off and she could tell from just the look alone.

"Sir? Are you alright?" His secretary asked, she saw the way he had sent the man in his office out.

"We have a lobby for a reason, yet you allowed someone into my office, after hours and alone. You're fired. Give me your City Council building admission token and spacial ring with our documents." He held out his hand and waited.

If his stealth sentries came back before she returned the ring and token, he would have her arrested. 'Hurry up, this is already annoying' Another minute passed and she was still crying on the floor, "Well then?"

Luimei grabbed her hand and pulled the ring off. "Guards." There was one thing he could count on, the sentries were loyal to the empire, not the kingdom. when they were dragging Minnie away he asked her one final question, "Were you in on the attack? or are you just a patsy?" He didn't even wait for Minnie to answer, he waved his hand and sent her away to the dungeon.

Walking back into his office, he looked around. There were a lot of memories inside the Council Chief's Office. A communication crystal was pulled from storage and Luimei contacted the Empire's Political Emissary.

"Its worse than we discussed last time, I do believe someone actually tried to take my life earlier. Instead, they managed to kill a half-dozen families sleeping in their homes." Luimei spoke into the crystal.

On the other end, "Ah. I'm glad you've kept me informed, so much activity in the Capital. There was a rumor that fighting had broken out in the Barrera Mountains, Its possible that some of the fleeing soldiers made their way toward us but unlikely. The Mountains are unforgiving to the unfamiliar." The Emissary stopped his chatter and waited for a response.

"I don't think it was anything less than targeted. If I had left a few moments later, I would have been blocked and probably ambushed. That landslide followed me, it was no accident." Luimei had one final thing to say. "The Empire has traitors in its midst. I must inform you that I take radical action to change the situation here. Please send an delegation to confirm a New Council Seat. No doubt there will be an upset over it but, these things happen." The crystal broke and the conversation ended.

Time was of the essence, if there was a plot, it was deep and substantial. Luimei left the Council Offices and caught a ride into the City.

֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍

Errit was busy loading his trays, the seeds he'd collected from his grasses collection had taken up four whole levels. They were starting to sprout only minutes after being planted, without the help of the chains to germinate. The growth wasn't nearly as substantial but as a farm, it was more than enough. 'Maybe I have to make more towers,' Kink hated the idea of a bunch of towers stretching into the horizon, it seemed tacky and a bit of an eyesore.

'Nah,' he thought and then a communication stone on his shoulder lit up. It was Invega, there was an important guest, Chief Council Luimei had arrived.

"Ugh, pass him the communication stone. I'm headed down." Errit finished the row, only a few seeds remained in his hand.

When they met up, Kink asked, "What is it now? You left earlier in a huff, are you here to arrest me for hurting your feelings?" He chided the Chief, attempting to shame him a bit. It didn't seem to work. Luimei seemed disturbed and oddly dirty for a City Official in the Capital of the Kingdom. "What happened to you?" Kink felt he deserved some sort of answer for the late visit.

"There was an assassination attempt earlier, from your attitude, I can see that it wasn't you." Luimei tossed a pile of rings and a card-like token onto the table. "The research and a copy of the last thirty years of appraisals in the Capital, If you want the information from the other cities you'll have to figure that out for yourself." He sat down and held his head. "Someone caused a landslide on my from the Magister's house, the timing was just too precise and the landslide followed me. Some of our townsfolk died in the shift."

Errit put the rings away without even looking them over, he sat down beside the Chief. "Then, we have much to discuss." He picked up the token. "Is this a Council Authority token?" Luimei nodded and Kink asked another question, "I have a bit of experience dealing with volatile situations, now that I have this token, I can at least investigate without many roadblocks." He pulled out a bean from the pod shaped fruits and passed it over.

"I intend to bring down everyone responsible for my greivances, revenge.. yea, revenge is a part of it. My old life is over, there is no going back." Luimei didn't understand what Kink was talking about specifically but he nodded.

"Change is inevitable, I'd rather be on the right side of history. Let us seek out the Regional authorities.." Luimei was interrupted by Kink. He held up his hand and stopped him cold in his conversation.

Kink's expression was hidden but his eyes focused on the Chief, "Stop trying to give authority over the situation to others, stop acting like underlings, you're the Chief, right? So act like it. You have already been given authority over these proceedings, why do 'you' even need permission to act?" Kink's voice started to rise.

"You know what?.. fuck it." He pulled out two bloodoath contracts and slapped them on the table. "I will sign this and you will sign the other. I will agree never to speak about what we discuss to others, and you will agree never to speak about what I am going to show you, since it is part of my plans as a whole to find allies in politics, I will reveal everything and my goals."

The night was long to pass, once they had both signed the contracts, the tensions between them disappeared somewhat. Kink walked with the Chief into his office, it was shielded. "Give me your hand." Luimei held out his hand and they both disappeared.

The dimensional key fell to the floor.