Act 2: Upheaval II - Revelations and search

Food in hand for Mihai and himself, it suddenly strikes Steve that he hasn't seen Femke this morning yet and he resolves to find her before rejoining the others. He flags down Segel and says, "Hey Segel, have you seen Femke this morning?"

Segel hovers in front of Steve and shakes his head. "Unless she managed to sneak by my siblings, she should be in her cabin."

"Thanks." Steve walks to her cabin and tries to figure out how he'll knock while holding two plates. He finally decides to lightly kick the door.

Konrad sits at the end of the table while Amber sits next to Mihai. Nadzieja chooses the second seat to Konrad's left; she seems to think that Steve will take the first one. Fluffle decides to stay on Amber's shoulder.

"Thank you," Szef Zerva says. "Should we wait for Steve?"
_____________

Femke immediately opens the door. It's like if she was anticipating him to do so.

"Yes?" she asks.

She wears the same clothes as yesterday.

"Yeah, better to talk with everyone here."

"Whoa!" says Steve in surprise. He takes a few moments to rebalance the plates. "You...don't just stand there on the other side of the door the whole time, right?"

"Of course not," Femke replies, impassive. "I heard you walk in the hallway and stop in front of my door."
____________

Nadzieja joins her hands on the table and waits for Steve's return. A little bored, Amber stands up and decides to admire the view through the windows built into the stern of the ship. Fluffle sits down on the table and smiles at the young szef, who returns his smile.

"Right, that makes way more sense. Zelk always tells me I make enough sound for four people," he laughs. "Anyway, Svef Nadzieja Zerva is here. Would you like to join us while we speak to her? Your insights and opinions are most welcome."

Femke stares at Steve for a few seconds before stepping outside her room and closing the door behind her. She then picks one of the trays in the mage's hands and waits for him to lead on.
____________

Nadzieja studies Konrad's expression for a moment before answering him. "It was a challenge, at first... But the other clan members helped me make this my home again."

"Thanks. That one is for Mihai." Steve then wastes no time in leading her to the cabin. He opens the door for her to enter first and then walks in himself once she does so. "I'm here! Where should we sit?"

Femke approaches the table and puts the tray in front of Mihai. Amber returns to her seat and Femke sits next to her.

The teenager greets her with a smile.

"Hi, Femke."

"Hi!" Fluffle says, a lot more awake now.

"Good morning," the Tyke woman replies.

There's an empty chair between Nadzieja and Konrad.

Steve takes the seat and says, "Thanks for waiting. I'm ready." He quietly takes a bite of dried fruit.

"I'm glad I can expect that of the homeland. It will always be home to me, but seas and ships are my home away from home."

He pulls out his pipe, idly wondering if Segel would have the same reaction to smoke as Breeze does, and begins to levitate it, spinning it slowly, stopping, reversing, to pass time while they wait.

He is about to ask something else when the door opens and Steve comes in.

"Wonderful, we weren't going to start without you. Nadzieja, this is Femke. She's a friend of a friend, a good samaritan helping us out."

Nadzieja stares at the Tyke woman for a short moment and then nods at her. Femke nods back.

Fluffle chuckles.

"If the people who very much despite themselves brought us all together knew what we're about to reveal, they'd be pulling their hair out. But we're here because of them, and so is the Enemy. And i'm not entrusting a thing to them."

Mihai opens the floor. - "Nadia, i hope you've had time to process everything we revealed yesterday, because that was nothing."

Szef Zerva listens carefully, her whole attention focused on the subject at hand. Her serious demeanor would make people wonder whether she's older than she actually is.

"...I'm listening," she says with apprehension. "And please, my name is pronounced Nadzieja."

"Sorry about that."

"Two hundred years ago, a squad designated 17th from the Imperial Surveillance Agency was dispatched to Shadowstep on mission to establish diplomatic relations with the Elementals. Among their number was a Green Mage named Nick. Shortly after they disembarked, they encountered a small group of Fairies trying to escape an Earth Elemental. The party quickly deployed to protect the Fairies, except for Nick, who along with his Aspect suddenly turned on his comrades with the intent to kill. That lasted until the leader of the Fairies generated an Orb and rammed it into Nick's head, effectively bringing both him and his Aspect back to their senses. They destroyed the Elemental and evacuated before they could be overrun. The lead Fairy - named Jacob - explained that the Elemental that had given Nick his power had been observing everything through his eyes, and when the time was right simply took control of him in order to kill the party."

He pauses a moment for emphasis.

"As it turns out, any Elemental - the Enemy, as the Imperials called it - can do this to the persons it had previously empowered. At any time, any place, at will. They've been establishing the perfect spy network for the past four hundred years, and seem to have a specific goal in mind: To either enslave us all or wipe us out. After that, Nick and his party became dedicated to stop their advance, cheating death through the use of the Orbs, until six days ago we were ambushed by a man calling himself Edward and his team, who knocked us out and forced the same Orbs into our heads. Fortunately, we had our own, and that's the only reason we haven't been taken over yet. But sooner or later it'll happen, unless we manage to find them first."

"Until then, it seems the Enemy is about to make their next power move in the upcoming Succession. So long as any Green Mage without an Orb sits on the rank of First, they will have effectively taken control of Myr."

Steve takes a bit of some jerky and checks Nadzieja out in the magical spectrum in case she's a plant.

Spellcraft 27

"Yes," Konrad says, as the realization flies across the szef's face. "This is quite a deep rabbit hole. We don't know what this Edward Fellow's intentions with Myr are. He wants to stop a conspiracy against humankind, but I wouldn't give him any benefit of doubt, especially not after he absconded with people we care about and tried to replace our memories with those of his own peoples'. Even had he not, I'd be hard pressed to sit idly by while a plot advances to transform my homeland into a puppet state."

Steve:

Slack-jawed by these numerous revelations, Nadzieja Zerva slowly shifts her gaze from Konrad to the rest of the party members, attempting to detect any signs of deceit. Amber meets Nadzieja's eyes and with furrowed brows, nods at her. Fluffle does the same thing and adds, "It's true."

Femke however is expressionless, and she seems content to just listen for now.

The szef stares at her hands, deeply troubled. She takes a minute to process all of what she has just learned until she finally asks, "...Do you have any orb we can give Duma?"

Mihai pulls out the Orb he shower her earlier. - "It's why we didn't just give it to you earlier. Steve and i wore it for a few seconds a few months ago, but it should still be safe. It doesn't seem to absorb your memories that fast."

Pause

"But once we give it to Duma, that's it. No more Orbs until we find Breeze, who could be anywhere. Any other card the Enemy has up their sleeve, we'll be unable to save this way. Whoever we give it to, that's the only one we'll be able to help for now. Not to mention what the Enemy will do once they realize we're on to them."

Konrad:

"That I know of, yes," the young woman answers somberly. She has managed to regain some of her composure; after some thought, she asks,"How are you planning to take this other orb out of your heads?"