Gem felt the overwhelming urge to skip her way through Bermuda’s streets. Most of her upper body was bruised and scraped, and she had been forced to apply strips of cloth to her forearms as makeshift bandages with how severely the skin had been scratched free over them, but even so the pain seemed a distant thing next to her excitement. Though it became decidedly closer to her mind as soon as she started actually attempting to move any great amount, which had convinced her to walk more traditionally.

She didn’t like walking, as a rule she preferred flying whenever it was possible. Even on her own it was far quicker, and it came with the fortunate benefit of keeping her far from the prying eyes of passing civilians. She didn’t like the way they looked at her when she saw it up close, that dehumanising, distant stare of awe and adulation seemed to reduce whatever was affixed with it into nothing more than an expensive item on display. Even in the gloom of dusk it was obvious, and it pissed her off all the more for it.

After a particularly obvious stare from a young couple, Gem briefly wondered whether she could, in fact, get away with flying the rest of the journey. She decided against it. Bermuda was distinctly against flight outside of specific circumstances, and with Gilasev gone Gem’s very existence no longer counted as such a circumstance.

She quickened her pace, the thought of her father’s absence threatening to drag her mood down from the clouds to rock bottom.

It took her quite some time to reach the organiser building, the great mass of expensive stone and pointless geometry had an official name but she’d never bothered to learn it. She couldn’t quite remember which way she’d come in during her last visit, either. Thankfully the clerks working at the entrance had a far better memory, and were more than happy to give her directions to Karma’s quarters even without the super-secret password or whatever it was normal people needed to get through.

As Gem moved through the building, she could’ve sworn she recognised certain passages. The decor may simply have been extremely similar throughout the entire place, but nonetheless it was remarkable how different it felt to traverse the long hallways without a pair of unfeeling Kin practically stalking her.

By the time she reached Karma’s floor that excitement had started picking up once more, and she had to fight to keep from bursting out into a fit of giddy laughter. She rapped her knuckles across the heavy dark wood of the door, and was kept waiting only a few moments before it swung open to reveal her friend.

Karma was dressed down, wearing a simple tunic, breeches and long boots. Her hair had also been tied back in a pony-tail, the same way she chose to wear it while sparring. Gem wondered to herself why the Olympian even bothered to adorn her body with such expensive clothing, her angled beauty hadn’t been diminished by the mundane clothing any more than it suffered from the lack of her usual show-smile.

“Ah, Gem. I was wondering when you wouldn’t make an appointment.”

Karma’s voice sounded somewhat distracted, as though her mind was elsewhere. Gem was dimly interested in exactly what she was thinking about, but such curiosity was quickly driven from her by the eagerness to discuss her performance.

“Oh I’ll make an appointment next time, can I come in?”

The tan woman answered by standing to one side, allowing Gem to step in past her and closing the heavy door at her back. When Gem turned to look at Karma once more, she saw one of the woman’s eyes arched expectantly.

“Well?”

Her voice was flat and level, and it made Gem wonder if she’d actually bothered to watch her beat an older, more experienced mystic or single-handedly pin down the undead at several points. Before Gem knew it, her mouth had started running.

“Well what? Aren’t you going to mention how amazing I was? Did you see me take down that terrorist with one shot? I know I used Rain, but still even I didn’t think I was that much more powerful. Like I get he was some no-name loser but come on! An adult mystic, probably decades older than me, with one shot! What did you think?”

Karma’s face remained completely unchanged, and now that Gem watched in closer detail she realised it seemed more than just expectant. Almost… annoyed. She realised what was happening.

“Eclipse… Karma, you’re jealous aren’t you? You know even you weren’t this powerful at my age? I mean you always knew, but you actually saw it from the outside right?”

The Olympian’s face darkened slightly, and Gem felt the sudden urge to stop talking. The last of her words hung over them in the air for a few moments, then Karma dashed them by speaking some of her own. Her voice was low and quiet, yet carried an indescribable weight to it.

“So you’re proud of your display, are you? Holding back for no reason to the point of barely escaping a loss, charging something far stronger than you without even bothering to try and evaluate its power and otherwise showing to the entire world that you are, in fact, a fucking moron.”

Gem opened her mouth to answer, but Karma cut her off.

“Tell me, have I just been wasting my time by tutoring you for the last two years? Should I have just tried training a monkey, instead? Perhaps an orc? It’s just that, seeing as you aren’t actually any more intelligent than a creature, I can’t quite think of a reason as to why I shouldn’t just replace you with one”.

Gem’s face heated up at Karma’s words, and she suddenly found her speechlessness dashed by the need to defend herself.

“Hang on”, she barked, “weren’t you the one who taught me to hide my true abilitie- AH!”

Her impassioned speech was cut short as the taller woman seized her right ear between two fingers, twisting and pulling it. There wasn’t a drop of magic behind the motion, but Karma towered over Gem by more than a foot- and her muscles weren’t just for show.

“Tell me Gem, how many tricks do you have still hidden up your sleeve?”

Karma’s tone made no room for an actual reply, and even if it had Gem was far too busy wincing with pain at the infernal tugging of her ear. The Olympian continued, rather calmly.

“How much damage did you take exclusively from stupid risks? How easy a target did you make yourself for people who now know you have enough raw power to be a threat, but enough stupidity to be a manageable one?”

The woman’s fingers parted, and Gem stumbled back- off balance due to having been standing on her tip-toes to alleviate the pain. Her eyes watered as she glared up at Karma, massaging the white-hot pain from where flesh and cartilage had been yanked almost off.

Much to her surprise, Karma’s anger seemed to have vanished. No longer cold steel, nor burning coals. It was simply gone, and as she brought a hand to her face and pinched the bridge of her own nose Gem realised that it had been replaced by exhaustion. In turn, this replaced Gem’s own pain and anger with concern for her friend.

“Karma, are you alright?”

The Olympian waved her free hand, not looking up as she answered.

“Yes, I’m fine. Just… Ugh, I don’t have time for this.”

She took her hand from her face, facing Gem.

“I really do not have time for this, nor anything else for that matter. Alright, here’s what’ll happen. There’s a party about four hours from now, it’s mostly minor immortals and those with the money to match. You’re going to attend and use whichever of my lessons you need to in order to convince them you aren’t a complete idiot.”

Gem opened her mouth to answer, but was silenced by a raised hand.

“Secondly”, Karma continued, “I will be going to meet a particularly….Frustrating fae.” Her voice took on a gravelly texture upon describing her appointment, then devolved into outright muttering.

“First he goes out of his way to undermine my plan, then he sticks Derek in the Sieve without telling me- not that any of the other fucking organisers felt the need either-”

At this, Gem could hold in her questions no longer.

“Wait, who’s Derek?”

Karma focused on her once more, as though she had briefly forgotten Gem was there.

“Oh, he’s the undead you fought in the second stage”.

“And you know him?”

The paragon shifted slightly, leaning from one foot to another and looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“We… courted.”

Gem could feel her own features contorting and suddenly had the urge to wash her hands.

“You courted? He was a cloud of gas”.

“That happened after I ended our relationship”, Karma snapped. “Besides, it didn’t last long anyway”.

“Oh, I wonder why”.

Karma’s eyes narrowed.

“What on mirandis are you implying?”

Unable to hold off the grin which sprouted on her face, Gem decided to answer truthfully.

“You don’t seem like the sort of person who could make a relationship with anyone work”.

Karma’s jaw tightened as she replied, rather more curtly than usual.

“I have many very important matters to attend to which are vital for the betterment of Olympus, I’m afraid I don’t have time to be discussing my love life with a fourteen year-old who, I would like to point out, has never courted or even had sex”.

Face burning, Gem turned on her heel.

“Oh fine, I’ll come back later when I’m worthy of being in the great Princess of Olympus’ presence!”

Karma’s hand rested on the small of her back, and the older woman began to gently push her into a walk towards the door.

“Oh excellent, I’m so glad you finally got my hint”. There wasn’t a trace of irony or humour in Karma’s voice, though Gem was quite sure that was intentional. Before she could so much as protest, she was standing back in the hall with a closed door behind her.

The bitch.