Interim. (8)

As the two women looked up at Relovan, the door to his bedroom closed behind him. They wasted little time in rising to their feet and moving over to the threadbare lounge with about as much grace as they could muster. They did this in complete silence, and once they sat down, one of them waved her hand, causing the door to shut. They both dusted off their dresses, all the while looking around the small studio apartment.

"It's small." One of them remarked.

"Tiny." The other scoffed. "But clean." She reluctantly admitted.

"What a boring little apartment, though. There appears to be nothing of interest in here."

"Who cares if there is anything to do in this tiny apartment? It has nothing to do with us. Just sit still and wait for the Human to return."

As the woman looked over at her companion, her eyes almost shot out of her eyes as the other woman was busy looking at Relovan's things.

"What are you doing, Dee?!" The seated woman asked in a barely contained whisper.

"I'm looking around, Dee." The other woman said with a shrug of the shoulders. "So this is how he stays in shape…"

She then grabbed a dumbbell and tried to lift it with one hand at first, but eventually with both hands after she struggled quite a bit. After she failed to make the weight budge in the slightest, she moved on to different weights and exercise machines. She appeared determined to try out every single one, and every so often, the other Dee would warn her and try to get her to stop. The exploration of Relovan's gym continued, until the other Dee stood up to try and stop the curious one from continuing with what she was doing.

"Shaelandria above, why is this so heavy?! Dee, come give me a hand."

"What? Just leave the Human's things alone and sit back down!" Dee said as she reached the other one.

"But don't you want to see what made that Human so effective against our Knights?"

"I don't." Dee said with a snort. "Our Knights were simply caught off guard because they were engaging with the Gorilla's Knights."

The curious Dee chuckled a bit, before getting back to attempting to use that particularly heavy exercise equipment. The struggling and grunting went on for enough time that the other Dee stomped over and grabbed the bar as well. The two women started lifting in unison, although that made absolutely no difference whatsoever. The pair struggled a bit longer before eventually giving up and standing up straight. They were breathing heavily and had even worked up a bit of a sweat.

"These are all so heavy." The curious Dee said as she caught her breath.

"For a Human, he's pretty strong." The other Dee answered between breaths as she tried to look and sound casual.

All of a sudden, the curious Dee was on the move again, looking at Relovan's desk and sitting in his chair.

"I wonder what kind of books he keeps."

She said out loud as she first opened a drawer, only to find a few old books with weathered covers and tattered pages. She opened each drawer, and found the same thing in all of them. The books seemed to have been placed there in a sequence or order of sorts, and this piqued Dee's curiosity even more, much to the dismay of the other Dee. The curious one stood up and made a beeline for the bookshelf, and as she approached, she quickly looked over the spines of the books there. Her eyes bulged as she noticed this and the instant she reached the shelf, her head and her eyes began darting around, as if looking for something specific.

"What is it, Dee?"

"These books… all of them…"

"What about them?"

There was no answer from the inquisitive woman, which prompted the other Dee to join her at the bookshelf. There was a period of stunned silence as both women looked over the books.

"This is…"

"A collection of the constitutions of various territories from within the Coalition's borders and beyond."

"Who owns something like this? Who spends their free time studying laws from other territories and working out?" The curious Dee asked.

"Somebody who is serious about themselves, perhaps?" The other one replied.

"Look at this… isn't this written in Guap? He can read and understand Guap?!"

"I can." Relovan calmly responded as he emerged from the bedroom, dressed in a similar manner to how he was the night before.

He had not reapplied the bandages however, so the surgery scars and the like were still visible. He was also still favouring his left side, however he just walked and appeared to completely disregard the pain he was in. The two women stopped what they were doing with a sudden jolt, before turning simultaneously and looking at him.

"If you two are done with snooping around, I am ready to leave and go see your boss."

The two Dees just looked at him as though they were expecting him to do something violent or rough. Instead, the Enforcer just walked towards them as he fixed his worn cap.

"How shall we be going? Is your vehicle waiting for us outside?"

"Huh? Aren't you going to—"

"We did not travel via car or ship, Enforcer." The more serious Dee answered. "We have a different way of traveling when we are in close proximity to Nala. If you truly are ready, then let us depart."

Relovan simply nodded and walked to the door, as if to open it for them to leave.

"That won't be necessary, Enforcer." One of the Dee's said, drawing his attention and stopping him from moving further.

He then felt two hands gently hold his wrist, and before he knew what was going on, Relovan suddenly heard the women speak in unison.

"We are ready, Nala."

No sooner had those words been spoken, were the trio suspended in the air, encapsulated in a strange gelatinous, slimy bubble. As Relovan was looking around, he blinked and then found himself in an unfamiliar place. The bubble popped and the three of them landed on the ground gently. It looked as though they had entered a strange dimension or some kind of underwater area. It was almost as if they were within a vessel that was moving through water, and even had fountains, brightly glowing vats which had different coloured water inside, and all manner of creature swimming in said vats. Plants that Relovan had never seen before also grew in fields that were behind a type of Perspex, and this was all in a large room that they had all appeared in.

"…what the?" The Human asked nobody in particular.

"We are now aboard the Void Walker Nala, Enforcer."

"Impressed, aren't you? Is this your first time inside one?"

"I am not quite sure what I'm looking at." Relovan answered honestly.

"It is a collection of plants and creatures from the Lady's home planet." The more serious Dee answered. "Anyway, she is waiting for you, so let us be off."

The hands that were holding Relovan's wrists suddenly released them and moments later, some sort of wind disk appeared beneath all of their feet. It propelled them into the air and moments later, the trio was zipping through the Walker. Relovan was flanked by the women, and the journey did not last all that long as soon enough, they flew into a large room which was far more modern looking than the one they appeared in. There were desks, what looked to be computers, a number of chairs and couches, and so on. The disk came to a standstill and the instant it did, the two women were on their knees, bowing.

"We have brought him, my Lady."

Juxtae's head popped up from behind a computer screen, and then seconds later, she rose out from behind said computer and gently wafted over to them all. Her hands were in her robe sleeves and when she reached the trio, she placed her hands by her sides. There was a bout of silence in which the Void Lord's gaze shifted between her subordinates, who both smiled and nodded.

"Yes, thank you Void Lord." They both said in unison with a nod.

Juxtae then looked at Relovan, who had not knelt along with the two Knights. In fact, his guard was up and his eyes scanned the room they were in, as if he was looking for an exit. The moment he felt Juxtae's gaze on him, he met it with his own and remained silent. One of the Dees looked at him and spoke in a somewhat annoyed sounding tone.

"The Lady says that… that… oh. It appears she wishes to speak to you directly, Enforcer. She will now speak through me."

"How?" Relovan asked, looking somewhat confused.