Sagacious and Isobel

Sagacious spent the next week in Memnon, mostly within the villa he'd been given by the Knights of the Silver Hand when they sent him here back when this whole fiasco started. Perhaps debacle would be a better word for the situation, now that the Black Masks were also involved. The villa had a sizeable library and collection of various things, and the Knights had pooled some resources to fill it with as much helpful lore as possible. Still a young member of the group, many of his superiors would be watching closely and try to be of assistance, which really just irritated and slowed him down.

Since the tragic circumstances of his parents' death, young Sagacious was taken in by the Knights after some truly harrowing months on the streets of New Vael. The quiet, reserved boy he'd been raised to be, seemed to vanish almost overnight. He had become angry, lashing out at other street kids and even adults. As a young Angelkin, his connection to the Celestial realm was as yet tenuous and Zaurielle had not begun to teach him fully, but the strength and near supernatural agility and intellect was there. Undoubtedly, had the Knights not brought him into the fold, he would have risen among the ranks of the criminal underground very quickly.

Once he was able to learn control of his gifts, he learned the history of his people and that of the Devilkin. Through that lore, he learned about the Black Hand of magic and the Devils that offer pacts to mortals, corrupting them. Using them as agents in the eternal war between the Celestial and the Damned, and how often his kind were sought by those Devils as sacrifices. With the guidance of Zee, and the other Knights, he'd grown up learning how to track, watch, and ultimately how to trap and kill them.

He had proved a voracious student, learning all he could about the Damned and the mortals whom they corrupted in an effort to solve his parents murder. Zaurielle had bonded with his spirit fully as he grew older, becoming his patron and granting him magical gifts of radiant fire and healing. At best a proficient fighter, Sagacious preferred magic and would use traps to prepare his selected battlefields well in advance. There were other members of the Knights who were better hand-to-hand fighters than he would ever be, so rather than rely on his weaker skillset, he leaned into doing what he was better at than anyone else: Tracking and killing Devils and their worshippers.

He'd flourished into his late teens and early twenties and had begun to carve a life for himself out in New Vael. Once the center of an Empire that had stretched across most of Arbre, it was still the center of commerce and learning for most of the world. He met Isobel, a young writer and had fallen for her immediately, as often happens in the passions of youth. When Zee had sent him to Memnon to find this Devilkin apprentice, she had not been very happy, was quite vocal that he was leaving for an unknown length of time. She had, of course, demanded to come along, and Sagacious had relented.

He heard the front door to the villa open and this broke him from his reverie. He sat sprawled on a chaise lounger, a simple white silk robe covering his alabaster skin. He stood to greet his paramour and the robe fluttered around him as he walked towards the stairs, revealing several sigils in Celestial script tattooed all over his chest and back. Sagacious didn't give them any thought these days, but he'd spent months having them inked painfully onto him; they gave him protection from magical scrying, but perhaps more importantly women really seemed to like them. Especially Isobel.

Isobel appeared at the bottom of the stairs, a vision in azure silk with large brown eyes and delicate cheekbones. Her hands rested on her ample hips and she grinned impudently up at him. "You're back!" Her tone was one of happiness, tinged with mischief. She continued, "Did you bring me any sand?"

"No love, I rather thought you'd have enough of that here." He glided down the stairs, manifesting his wings to float down without actually touching the ground, and into her arms, kissing her passionately. She tasted like cinnamon and smelled of jasmine, he almost forgot where was as he melted against her. She embraced him back and the two of them locked together for several moments.

She broke the kiss and pulled her arms up to wrap around his neck, smiling archly up at him. "I see you did bring me something." He blushed and she laughed, pulling his face down for another kiss and whispered, "Later."

Clearly somewhat flustered, he broke the embrace gently and offered Isobel his hand, drawing her upstairs to sit and talk. "So, do you want the good news or the bad news?"

Isobel followed him as he led her, stopping at the top of the stairs to pour two glasses of water for them from a crystal decanter on the table by the lounger. A larger side table was piled high with tomes, silk multicolored bookmarks hanging out of them. She handed him a glass and sat down, patting beside her for him to join her. "Let's get the bad out of the way first, angelface." She had always called him that, much to his chagrin. He sighed obligingly.

"I hate it when you call me that, Izzy. But, okay. We think my current target is headed here, but she's also being targeted by the Masks." He took a small drink and shrugged before adding, "It's likely they have a hideout here, so violence will probably occur. Which is why I didn't want you to-"

She cut him off with a derisive snort. "I can take care of myself, Sagacious. Now what's the good news?"

He shook his head and sighed. So willful. "From what I can gather, this young apprentice does have Mae's cloak with them. So the assignment is to make contact with her, or him, it's complicated," he waved away her questioning look, "and convince them that it's in her best interest to come back to New Vael with us."

Isobel's eyes narrowed at her lover dangerously. "And how exactly will you do that?" There were many warning alarms embedded into her tone, and Sagacious laughed as he figured out the danger he was in.

"Oh no! Nothing like that!" He shook his head at her. "That was a long time ago, before I'd even met you, Izzy. I promise, nothing like that. In fact," he paused, smiling innocently at her, "Zee thinks this particular situation might be better handled by, well," he winked, "You."

"Me?" She laughed, "Your Angel spirit Patron thinks it would be best if I talked to this young apprentice? Why?"

Sagacious shrugged and smiled. "She seems to think this Devilkin will react better to a woman than a man. I've been surveilling her for a while in Amonthus, and she presented as feminine for most of that time. But to evade guards and the Masks, they presented as male. I'm not sure, but I suspect they are just confused as to what and who they are, especially after losing Mae. Add in the cloak… and, well… Zee figures that you would have a better chance at getting through to her."

Isobel looked at him seriously for a second before snapping back. "Just so I have this right. Your Archangel patron feels like a plain human woman would have a better chance at getting along with a gender confused and grieving devilkin than you, an actual living Angelkin?" Her gaze swung around to the books, picking out the titles on the spines: A History of Arbre, Gods and the Emergence, The Elven Sagas of Ashwynn and the Sundering. Light reading, indeed. She added as Sagacious opened his mouth to respond, "And you want me to give her a fucking history lesson too?"

"No, no love, I'll do that. Zee just thought that, well, maybe you could make a connection with her that I couldn't." His tone was placating and apologetic, inside Isobel smiled. He was so easy sometimes. She pursed her lips and made a great show of thinking deeply before answering him.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt to get into Zee's good books." Sagacious sighed and visibly relaxed his body language. "You said she was coming here? How long do we have?" She stood and walked to stand in front of Sagacious, grabbing his hands and placing them on her hips.

He smiled up at her, platinum pupils twinkling against the royal blue of his eyes. "I can't say for sure." He softly kissed her pelvis and he hugged her against him. "Could be a while, though."

Isobel laughed and leaned into his embrace, gasping as he continued to tease her through her robes. "Well then my angelface, I guess you had better start making this up to me…"