Ramsey Swacc, acting head of the Swacc Family, sat at his desk and did his best not to look out the window. He knew that in the courtyard below, Velio Dunn was playing with the hounds. Ramsey’s hounds, his one hobby being the act of raising and training the powerful hounds in between managing the outward affairs of the Swacc Family.

Not that he had time for them, these days, of course. But to have that man’s bloodsoaked hands rubbing their ears-

Ramsey slapped his cheeks and forced himself to focus. He lowered his shoulders and looked at the letter in front of him, sent from the Engraving Guild, demanding an explanation for the volume of Unitarium that was released by the explosion. Ramsey clicked his tongue. Not that the Engraving Guild hadn’t been aware of their activities in the past, but now that they so thoroughly-

The happy barking of dogs caused Ramsey to stiffen again. Growling to himself, he stood and stalked to the window. Down below in the yard, several of the younger additions to the Swacc Family stood at attention while the oppressively powerful Velio rolled on the ground with the young hounds. They had just reached one year of age, so while they had most of the base training down, their bestial instincts were still strong.

When given such an invitation to play, none of the hounds could resist. They were rolling and barking and licking and play biting, chasing after the preternaturally fast Velio. Meanwhile, most of the younger generation was staring warily at Velio’s sword, which was pulsing with a blue light and steadily eating away at the tree it was leaning against.

Ramsey shut the window with a sharp snap. Even more infuriating was the knowledge that Velio probably noticed his observation but just find it amusing. And Velio was right, there was nothing that Ramsey could do to the powerful man, either through personal power or through connections. Velio Dunn outclassed him in every way.

Ramsey glanced sideways at the shadow painting in the corner. “Are you not infuriated by his prattle? Do you not bear a grudge against him?

Aisha Swacc continued to paint, her expression placid. Several silver pins kept her long grey hair up in an elaborate coil above her head. Her milky eyes remained fixed on her art, even while the merwoman’s scale gleamed in the light filtering in through the windows. “Is this noise any different than the normal barkings your beasts engage in? I am here to guard against unexpected foes, not be your pet. And also… if you ever again mention my business with Velio...”

A flicker of a smile ghosted across the woman’s face. “I will demonstrate on you what he once did to me.”

Ramsey shivered and returned to his desk. “My… apologies elder. Merely the stress-”

“Of doing your job?” Finally, Aisha Swacc spared him a glance. The gills on her neck fluttered slightly. “Figure out where the leak came from, Ramsey. Or I am will be the least of your worries. The fact that I was ordered to come here and babysit… should give you an idea about the caliber of figures in the Swacc Family that are deeply interested in your management capabilities. And… you know the family rules. I shouldn’t need to elaborate what will happen if you fail, yes?”

For the rest of the day, Ramsey didn’t dare move from his desk, carefully reading through correspondence from immediately prior and immediately after the attempted theft. What was obvious was that the thief had at least a portion of knowledge about the facility, in order to make it as far as they did. Yet at the same time, they weren’t an actual Swacc, or they wouldn’t have triggered that final trap.

Unless the explosion was deliberate… Ramsey grimaced as he stared down at the correspondence laid out in front of him. Polite invitations to birthdays and weddings littered the desk, scrutinized and cast aside as harmless. But of course, the biggest correspondence was for the party that Don Beigon will have in five months' time…

That was the fuse, but why would that cause someone to try and weaken the Swacc Family? Ramsey spared a glance for Aisha. If you would provide me more information about the hidden side of the Swacc Family…

But he dare not say that out loud. Some things needed to be earned. So he lowered his head and buried himself in the work.

*****

“What took you so long?” Claudette complained when Randidly finally arrived. She was lounging on a light blue chase couch, the coloration a stark contrast to the russets and burnt oranges and golds of the rest of the Beigon estate. A small act of rebellion, here in the heart of Don Beigon’s power.

Very conscious of the geas that still remained in his chest from his deal with Don Beigon, Randidly waved his arm. “No offense, but the guards… are quite protective of you. You must have earned quite a few stalkers in order to have them bristle on command like that.”

Even though the second time I walked up and appeared before them, the guards looked at me with only dread, Randidly thought to himself.

Claudette laughed. “Yes, well, aside from you, most people find me quite charming. Almost overwhelmingly so, in fact. And many men are glad to take kindness shown toward them as much more than what it really is.”

Claudette batted her eyelashes at Randidly, then gestured for him to come and sit down when he didn’t swoon. He did so, feeling much more at ease in this room than the other portions of the Beigon Estate. The image of quality was much lighter here.

“Okay, let's get to business,” Unlike her father, Claudette didn’t offer Randidly tea. She swung her legs off of the comfortable bit of furniture and produced some dusty scrolls that she set carefully on the table. “These are some of the more… heavily protected first-hand accounts of the Second Cohort. However, it would be much simpler if you could give me a better idea of what you are looking for-”

Considering Randidly was mostly looking for an explanation for the phenomenon that he had learned of from the Nether Gatekeepers, the change in the Shaft, Randidly shook his head. But in addition to being afraid of revealing his information sources, he also had to admit that he had no idea what he was looking for either. Mostly it was an idle curiosity. Something had changed in the past, but the being at the bottom of the shaft was a completely separate problem of his.

“And the other things?” Randidly looked up and asked.

“I have nothing right now, but I can guarantee that I’ll have no problems with the request for buying planets.” Claudette shrugged and her brow furrowed. “My family regularly participates in the real estate market… considering the size of our assets, a few planets will not draw anyone’s attention. However… it will be more difficult for me to give over control of the Nexus Ways for those planets to you if you wish to prevent others from coming and going from your planets…”

“I have my own methods for disconnecting the planet from the Nexus Ways,” Randidly said. Then he felt vaguely confused as he felt a flash of fear and disgust from Claudette, even though her features didn’t shift at all.

What the hell sort of assumptions are you making about me…? Randidly wondered even while being impressed with her control over her face.

But Claudette didn’t give him the chance to voice his confusion. “As for your request regarding Nether Cores… that will take me a bit more time to arrange. I believe my father has extensive literature detailing both methods… but those records I will not be able to get freely. There are certain… costs within my family. I will need both a justifiable excuse and some… collateral to pay for the knowledge. That will take some time to gather.”

Randidly nodded slowly, wondering what it would be like living with a father who could use his Skills to compel you to obey him based on the things he had done for you in the past. The affection from such a powerful individual… was infectious indeed.

Still, Randidly shook his head to get rid of those thoughts. “That… is fine. As long as you understand that I cannot… guarantee the results from my assistance helping you refine your image. Aside from my own image… I’ve never engaged in something like this before. But we should also talk about the timeline. When should I… be ready?”

Claudette paused then and examined Randidly from the top of his head to his bare toes. She seemed to be reckoning with the knowledge that they were really doing this. Again, her expression was completely blank, but Randidly could completely feel her emotions as she doubted her initial instinct to give Randidly this responsibility.

But a dark streak of fatalism seemed to suffocate her hesitance and Claudette smiled warmly at Randidly, a chilling contrast to the bleak outlook he could sense within her. “Well… before the celebration of my father's third Mille. Preferably we would finish at least a few weeks before, so I can get used to the… refinements to my image. So tentatively, we need to be successful four months from now? So… we might need to start as soon as possible.”

That admission made Randidly blink. “You want to start… immediately? As I said, I have no knowledge of the process… how long does it usually take?”

For the first time, Claudette’s expression was bitter. It was clear that the prospect of failure already filled her with grief. “A proper image refinement can take years. But, since you weren’t very experienced anyway… and I assumed we would rely on partial time dilation to give us some extra breathing room…”

Randidly reached up and rubbed his chin. “...I can make sure the time dilation we experience is… quite strong. But I need some time, both for you to provide the planets and for me to make my own… preparations.”

Claudette pursed her lips. She weighed him again, that same calculating look Randidly had seen in the eyes of her father, without any of the sharp hooks. “...fine, but I want a hard start limit of two months. Agreed?”

Randidly winced slightly. I might need to go to the shaft for a bit if I need to accumulate enough Nether to make a Nether Ritual for the planets in that time… I could wait until after, but somehow, I doubt that Don Beigon will remain idle after the work begins-

There was a soft knock at the door and then a familiar voice, “Honey? Papa just wanted to see-”

The door slid open and revealed a completely transformed Don Beigon, his face lit by a warm smile filled for affection for his child. Yet when his heavy-lidded eyes landed upon Randidly, his expression suddenly became stiff. There wasn’t a hint of recognition there as he glowered at this ‘interloper’. “...hmmm? Who… who the hell are you, in my daughter’s room?!?!”

“Papa!” Claudette was on her feet in the next instant. She swayed and collapsed toward Randidly, her hands held up protectively between her father and him. “Please, this isn’t what it looks like! We are just friends.”

“FRIENDS?!!?!?” Don Beigon thundered, wheeling himself into the room and releasing an explosive wave of heat. His words shook this entire wing of the sprawling house. “YOU DARE CLAIM THAT YOU ARE FRIENDS WHEN HE LOOKS AT YOU WITH SUCH COVETOUS EYES?!?”

Did you… get me to promise not to mention our meeting just so you could barge in as the righteous father? Randidly wondered, feeling vaguely exhausted. I suppose it can be considered barely not interfering that you waited until we were done discussing the details to make your entrance…

“Those are just his eyes!” Claudette denied, but she gave Randidly the sort of look that mixed desire, guilt, and rebellion in such a complex concoction that even Randidly couldn’t help but wonder if this was a play where someone had just forgotten to give him his lines.

If he didn’t know better, he definitely would suspect they had worked together to prank him.

Randidly cleared his throat. Both Beigons, melodramatic expressions on their face, turned to him, giving Randidly a chance to participate in their strange game. He did his best to resist the urge to roll his eyes. But even to his ears, his voice sounded monotone. “...I didn’t expect things to progress so quickly either. I was simply swept away by… passion.”

“Dearest Randidly…” Claudette sighed with crocodile tears in her eyes. Randidly couldn’t decide if it was better or worse that she didn’t address how flat he had sounded.

“GET OUUTTTTTTTTT!” The Don howled.