A brief silence swallowed the sanctum following Okoye's words. A sentient silence that seemed to reach outside of these walls to hush the subtle patter of rain against the window. Both Erigor and Aisha found themselves frozen in shock at what they heard, their jaws slacked in awe and disbelief. They exchanged skewed glances before Aisha found her voice.“I am the Emperor's daughter, and rightful heir to the B'halian Empire.”
She folded her arms even tighter as she distracted herself with the various trophies hung along the wall as she entertained Aisha's question. But she only did so on account of Erigor's amicable words..
"..I was exiled from Bhalia when I was a child for obvious reasons. They figured I was a mutant and probably didn't want to tarnish the reputation of the royal seed.. so they got rid of me. To expose me as a mutant would convict the Emperor to death. They wanted me to just disappear so no one would know the truth.. I'm guessing they just want to kill me now that they know I'm less human than they thought. But to answer your question, I do see myself on the right side of history. I could live a millions lives before I atone for the sins of my father, but I plan to assert myself to the throne as soon as possible.. I just need time to get stronger.”
“H-heir?”
She stumbled over the word as if it held a foreign meaning or some manner of encoded message. It simply had to have an alternative meaning, but Okoye's deadpan expression was the same as when she arrived. She was not the type to joke indeed.
“Of the entire– of B'halia?! You?”
She couldn't believe it. She almost felt insulted by the concept..
“How?”
Erigor, however, seemed far more receptive.
“Hmm.. Heir, huh? Well that would certainly be incentive enough.”
He mused on the possibility with his hands picking his beard in contemplation.
“Erigor, you believe this?!”
Aisha disputed. Just as if on cue, the door to Erigor's Sanctum swung open and walking through its threshold was Clara, jotting down a spreadsheet worth of information unto her clipboard. Her sudden appearance drew the eyes of everyone aside for Erigor, who seemed privy to her arrival.
"It's the truth, Aisha.. well the part about her being pure blooded Mazoku is true for sure. I did the blood work myself. I can't run any paternity tests without the blood of the Emporer, but if a caravan of B'halian Soldiers does wind up at the gates of Helidor, then I suppose that would be proof enough for me.”
She didn't look up from her clipboard until she finished her annotations. But her eyes behind her glasses were worn and exhausted. For the passed month and a half, the Gilded Fang's Chief of Surgery had been working none stop, battling the cosmic phenomenon aptly termed The Sardonyx Epidemic. It was her responsibility to oversee all surgical procedures within the Guild involving Sardonyx infection. Her Anthem allows her to experience things only the patient would have knowledge of, and even drives out the latent healing potential that may otherwise be too weak to spur on itself. It was a unique and invaluable skill.
“Besides, her vitals would have spiked if she lied and I would've noticed. Mystery solved. Im going back to work."
“Wait, what-- Mystery? Clara, What are you doing here?!”
"I was eavesdropping, but I wasn't entirely sure how long you all planned to be. And I honestly don't have the time to wait.."
But it was not without its drawbacks. Along with their experiences and memories Clara also inherited the psychological traumas of her patients as well. It didn't harm her physically, but the experience was spiritually draining over time.
”I asked her to be here.”
Erigor interposed, stalking the flames of Aisha's confusion even more.
”I figured she would be able to verify if what Okoye has been saying is true or not. I didn't want to force it out of her, I also didn't want to give her any incentive to lie.. or any reason to think she was under suspicion. I admit, it was a bit dishonest.. but as the protector of Helidor, I had to be sure.”
He said practically, barely a twitch in his face. A lot of thought was put into this little misdirection, but Aisha could tell that Erigor was genuinely troubled with enacting the plan. Subterfuge, while effective, was unlike him. He was never an end justify the means sort of leader.. This must have been a testament to how serious he was taking Okoye's warning.
”You needn't explain, Commander. Your plan was sound and successful.”
”It was my plan actually."
Clara uttered as she fought through the pain of a throbbing migraine that refused to go away. She'd been pinching the bridge of her nose all day to alleviate the pressure, but at this point, it hardly had any effect other than leaving a mark on her face.
"Try and bear with me, I haven't slept in weeks and I'm still up to my ass in dying patients. I may be a bit cranky.. Yet here I am, trying my best to keep sanity and integrity in check, while somehow managing to keep the medical division of the guild function at optimal efficiency. All during an epidemic mind you..”
She said, firing an icy glare over to Erigor for asking her to cook up this plan, despite being stressed to the point of splitting ends.
“But we all have our role to play. He might not say it now, but Erigor shared a bit of your skepticism when I told him the human woman you rescued from Muu was actually a full blooded Mazoku elf. Took some convincing, had to run the tests a few dozen times, but we're here. ”
”Yes.. and in no short thanks to you, Clara.”
Erigor said, returning an appreciative smile in response to Clara's vindictive leer. He unfolded his arms and stepped from the table to redirect his attention to Okoye.
”I apologize for my duplicity, but I had to be certain that you were who you said you were. And not just for the sake of Helidor.”
He said as he approached Okoye and reached out to shake her hand.
"But now I'm sure, and I may be able to help you in your quest for your throne. Given you plan to at least try to undo the horrors your father has left on our world."
