AETHER BEASTS

Chapter 167

"Before we get into that, what's your name?" I asked, not really wanting to keep referring to her as not Natalia, or the madame since I doubted she wanted to be remembered as either.

She frowned and looked like she might burst into tears right then and there. "I can't remember."

I shot a worried look at Zirani who frowned, a thoughtful expression coming to her face.

"What do you remember?' Sandra asked.

"I-I remember what happened in the b-brothel and…" She trailed off as a faraway look appeared in her eyes. "I remember a village, and… screaming. I t-think they took me."

"I see." I turned to Zirani. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

She nodded. "Most likely these girls were taken from outside the city so as to not arouse any sort of suspicion. Taken from small communities like villages that wouldn't be able to defend themselves from a full-on assault by trained arcanists."

I turned back to the former madame and felt my anger rise again. The man in charge had died too fast and too painlessly for what he'd done. There were over three dozen girls here. How many villages had he destroyed and how many had he killed? How many families had been broken apart? How many of these girls were wives. My fists tightened in fury, but I calmed down as I noticed the former madame worriedly looking at me. It didn't surprise me that they might have beaten them.

"What do we do?" Sandra asked. "We can't get them back their old lives, and before we let them go we're going to have to make sure we deal with anyone else involved in this."

"I'm regretting not killing all the patrons," Zirani growled. "They'll be a problem too. We can't let any of them go until we confirm that the problem had been dealt with and the expedition has arrived."

"Can't you bring their memories back?" I asked.

"Perhaps." Zirani shrugged. "It depends on the damage. If the memories are just blocked then I could, but if they are gone then it would have to be a soul ritual which would be risky."

"How would a soul ritual help?" Sandra questioned.

"A person's soul is the sum of everything there were and are, and will be," Zirani said. "Your actions, memories, instincts, everything is stored within your soul. Remember how I said switching bodies usually doesn't work because of soul incompatibility. Your body grew with your soul. They were made for each other. A soul ritual would work but it would take time for all of them. Time we don't have, not to mention one mistake is all it would take to mess their soul up. Aiden you should know what sort of pain that brings about."

I shivered. I did, and just the thought was enough to make me wince. "Then what?"

"Well, let's head back to the suite and get Misty first," Zirani said. "She's waking."

I focused and sensed that Zirani was right. I sent over a mental message telling her we were on our way back. "What about them?"

"I'll handle it." Zirani sighed. "You three go get Misty. After that, we'll figure out our next step."

We decided to leave the tree and walk back rather than teleporting back. It was almost night, but from the couples, we saw walking about, the garden was still open so hand in hand, Sandra and I made out way back to the hotel. The hot desert air had become a pleasant chill and I noted how even at night the city was still buzzing with activity. Apparently, the city had night markets as the bazaar was not empty, just different. All manner of arcane lights lit up the sky from simple orbs of different colors to more unusual lights in different shapes. One was like a rainbow, changing from one color to another rapidly, lighting up a small stage where a man seemed to be in the process of performing some sort of trick.

There were also more carriages about, probably because there were still fewer people than in the day.

"Hard to believe such a beautiful city is hiding such filth," Sandra mused.

"Most cities have their good and bad sides, Sandra." I chuckled. "When you bring this many people together something like this always happens, whether for greed or just a desire to go against the ruling authority."

"And us?"

"A bit of both," I replied. "We judge and then we act. I don't have that big of a problem with authority as long as I can trust it. The steel heart wasn't too bad since they always gave us a choice even if most of the time it didn't feel like it. They were relying on our good nature to say yes."

"That's just manipulation isn't it?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, but we could have still said no, and they didn't try to hide it. It's up to us to decide when we think we're being pushed too far or forced into something. We're probably going to have to deal with a lot of authority in the lands beyond the scar. Zirani is powerful but not the most powerful and she doesn't rule the green court, and you are a lost child of an influential clan."

Her hand tightened on me. 'What if they split us apart?"

I sighed. I'd been trying to put that thought off since I didn't want to think about it and the logical conclusions I came to were never good.

"We're probably going to be split for some time at least," I replied slowly. "Unless the green court and your clan are able to work something out, but that's a maybe. Don't think of it as a bad thing. We are still bonded and it grows stronger every day, and there must be other ways of communication and long-distance travel there. As long as we are able to see each other then I'll be happy. If we keep getting stronger then one day, they won't be able to stop us."

Sandra smiled. "You know you can be very logical for someone who is also very emotional."

I shrugged. "I've been told that before. I guess I got it from my aunt. She taught me a lot about every topic. I think after everything we've been through I'm doing good. I'm still sane and whole, which is sort of a miracle considering everything that's happened."

"We're lucky."

I nodded. "I'm thankful, but I'd rather it not be luck that defines my ability to get past a problem and find a solution because luck is a two-sided coin and eventually it's going to land on the other side."

We lapsed into silence for the rest of the walk, and just enjoyed each other's company. The inn of the hotel was silent when we arrived and after a quick nod to the receptionist, we made our way back to our suite where we found Misty in the middle of eating a chocolate cake.

"Did you order another one?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I got bored and all of our food is on the house."

"You've got a serious sweet fang," I said.

Misty rolled her eyes and set her fork down. "Want to tell me what's going on?"

Sandra made her way over to the table and cut herself off a piece of cake then motioned for me to speak with her fork. I turned back to Misty. "It's complicated."

I took a seat next to her and began explaining everything that had happened from when Sandra and I had first left the hotel to saving the women. Misty face went through a mix of emotions as I spoke but then settled on a mix of anger and sympathy.

"They're all safe?" She asked.

I nodded. "They are. Zirani's taking care of them."

"Why didn't you wake me?" Misty asked in an annoyed tone. "I could have helped.

"I don't doubt that," I replied. "But Sandra and I honestly didn't think we would end up doing this when we began following them and when we called Zirani it was to figure out where to put them. I'm sorry, but it wasnt because we didn't think you could help."

"Apology accepted," she replied. "But next time you wake me up, got it?"

I raised my hands. "Understood, sweet fang."

She shot me a look. "And stop with the puns."

The three of us decided to get something to eat while we let Zirani handle the girls. Misty had had cake, but I got something more normal for the three of us. I ordered three of their most expensive dish with their most expensive drink and a dessert that wasnt just cake. Misty frowned but I just pointed to the half a chocolate cake still left.

"Aiden, this is going to take a bit longer than I thought," Zirani said mentally as we were waiting for our food. "You should probably wait a few hours before returning. Some of these girls are… hysterical to say the least and others are just broken."

"Understood," I replied.