It was hard to describe the true interior of Twilight Elysium. Lots of clearly important buildings — judging from their decoration and the important-looking busy men and women entering and leaving them — dotted the place, creating a coercive atmosphere that compelled everyone to stay silent, look important, and not idle around.

Basically, Upper Elysium. Just a whole lot worse. The escort party around Gaius was equally silent too, although Gaius knew that they had to be brimming with curiosity. He could see them look at him and the others every so often for a moment or two, turning their gaze away whenever the boy looked at them directly. For a moment, Gaius wanted to speak, but the overwhelming atmosphere made him shut his mouth a moment later.

Nakama, who was hanging onto Isabelle’s right hand tightly, didn’t want to speak either. Even the countess, who Gaius felt would talk on and on given the chance, was silent. Isabelle was…well, Isabelle.

After walking past a cube-shaped building that reminded Gaius of an alien craft in a sci-fi show he watched back on Earth, they arrived at a relatively normal building. It was, like almost every other building in Twilight Elysium, a high-rise building, and the doors slid apart magically as the little party approached. The lobby was somewhat deserted, but all eyes turned towards Gaius as he strode inside, flanked by the men in black and the others.

A moment later, the spectators turned away and resumed their duties. The little bits of chatter that had filled the lobby earlier, however, never returned. Impassively, the men in black herded Gaius and company into one of those elevators that Gaius had seen before, and an absurd thought struck him.

If Isabelle and Nakama hadn’t seen them before, would they still try to play with them right here? Gaius knew that both of them had seen their fair share of those elevators back in the South, when they visited the Republic of Francois. If they didn’t…would Nakama be curious enough to play with them, even in the heart of the Mortal Light Dynasty?

It was a question worth losing a few minutes of sleep over on.

The lift came to a halt after half a minute of rising, the doors sliding apart to reveal a lavish room. Shiny chandeliers dangled from the ceiling, lighting up the place with a warm yellow glow. Golden, high-backed chairs were placed neatly around a huge rectangular table, the centrepiece of the room. A roll of smooth black cloth was draped over the table, with white plates and golden cutlery placed on it, in front of every chair.

Walking out, Gaius finally found it in himself to relax. Maybe it was the mini-orchestra playing their hearts out, but the boy felt at ease here.

“Classy,” he said. “How much did this whole setup cost? Two thousand gold?”

“Sounds about right,” Isabelle said. “Orchestra not included, naturally. Where’s the Pinnacle?”

“He’s still busy,” said one of the men in black. Or rather, the remaining man in black. The others had stayed in the elevator, leaving just the one guy to take care of them. Pushing up his shades and perching them on his forehead, the man looked around and shrugged.

“The Pinnacle’s been wanting to host another banquet, but the Oracle didn’t let him do it without a reason,” he said. “So now that we’re having one, the Pinnacle wanted to take the chance to dress up and show off. Which is why he’s acting as a clothes mannequin right now.”

“Mannequin?” Gaius tried to imagine Pinnacle Kolya stripping and wearing new clothes every minute, and found it a rather horrible sight. “Why can’t he just wear something like our clothes?”

“He hates vests,” the man in black replied. “And that’s the uniform of the Phrontistery of Scientific Reasoning. Only current students are allowed to wear that. The Pinnacle doesn’t want to break these rules just because he can, so…”

“I see,” Gaius replied. “Thank you, mister…”

“I’m Lord Weiss. At your service.”

“A Lord as a chaperone?” Countess Reinford cut in. “Wow. You sure aren’t an ordinary person, Gaius. Are you the Pinnacle’s illegitimate son?”

“He can only hope,” Gaius replied coldly.

“Dear, dear.” A voice came from above, and everyone looked up in time to see a man wearing a dapper tailcoat jump down from one of the many chandeliers. “Why so cold? I know the last time we met, we had ice-cream, but there’s no reason to be this chilly up until now.”

“Where’s the Oracle?” Gaius asked, ignoring the Pinnacle’s words.

“She’s waiting for one last person.” The smile faded from his face as his eyes turned to Countess Reinford. Smoothing out his collared shirt, he said, “You’re the esteemed Countess Reinford, no? Your fame precedes you. I see Gaius has completed my request magnificently, if you’re here.”

“Request?” She asked.

“A little favour I asked of him, although…” The Pinnacle narrowed his eyes. “He must have thought that it would be better if I heard it directly from you instead. Thank you, Gaius.”

The boy made a non-committal noise, and the Pinnacle guffawed twice. “Countess, would you like to eat first, or do you want to tell me what you told Gaius earlier? A banquet is being laid out as we speak” —he gestured at the waiters bringing trays of food— “and you are probably hungry.”

“Hungry?” Something flashed across her face, and the boy stifled an urge to laugh. The countess was probably feeling full about now, thanks to Nakama, As expected, Reinford decided to tell her own side of things first, but that didn’t stop Nakama from digging in first.

“You are an evil, evil man.” Isabelle covered her mouth. “And Nakama seems to be going all out too. I knew she liked to eat, but this is really impressive.”

“She’s a growing child,” Gaius replied. “And it was out of respect for you and me that she didn’t eat everything you cooked for dinner.”

“Maybe I should cook more food, then.”

“In that case, we should cook together. Four hands make light work, after all.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Isabelle replied.

“What? Why?!”

She patted Gaius on his head. “You’re too short to cook properly…”