Hunter Or Huntress

Tom stared at Joelina, who was returning the favor, leaning forward in her chair and staring him down like she was eyeing up a snack. It was really rather unsettling if he was being totally honest. Nunuk then decided to break the silence, clearing her throat and sitting up straight in her chair.

“I believe the more private matters can be discussed later. First, we have some practical matters to attend to. While my daughter has done well in my absence, I get the distinct impression her relative inexperience has been taken advantage of,” Nunuk opened, in the very recognizable tone of someone who had ruled for decades and knew what was up. Dakota for her part looked more than a little hurt, her head lowering a bit before she straightened back up, clearly trying to look unfazed.

“How so?” Joelina questioned, turning to the old lady and leaning her head on curled fists. Her eyes were different to how Tom remembered them. She had a more ‘wild’ look about her as she sat in her chair. She was seemingly content to let her own questions wait, at least for now though, as she listened intently.

“Merely the amount of threats and general ordering about of people proven loyal to the king and by extent the disrespect placed on a bloodline that has stood by the crown for centuries. This keep was bestowed on us, and we have honored that trust ever since. You have not. We present you with the find of the century, a black dragon enslaved to our beck and call, and we place our keep and our resources at your command, yet you still feel the need to threaten my people to the point they feel the need to push back against the holy Inquisition. Spite growing in them, and only then do you start to realize you overstepped. The fact you did not double down upon them betrayed that you know yourselves to be in the wrong. And that is before we even broach the subject of what you did to Tom. Who, I must remind you, is more than your personal toy. He is of my keep. Sworn to me and my family alone. He is not for you to use like some serf or common criminal.”

“Everyone falls under my jurisdiction, Lady Bizmati, and most certainly everyone unknown to our people. I won’t bore you with stories of why I did what I did. I have a sneaking suspicion Tom already knows. Or at least he may soon,” Joelina replied, returning to staring at Tom, her voice quite calm. Respectful even. “I am correct, yes? You have been having dreams, visions in your sleep if you know what I mean.”

‘Ahr shit,’ Tom cursed to himself. He didn’t have any clue how Joelina would react to him knowing secrets of both her childhood and the Inquisition. ‘Would she bet I would understand better if I know? Or kill me for it?.... Ahr, fuck me.’

“I believe that is a yes,” Joelina continued before Tom could fumble together a reply. “I must say I am starting to understand why you were as hysterical as you were. The visions and hallucinations are quite real. I have yet to feel anything like it. I have a dagger at my throat right now, yet no one can see it. But I think I know what it means.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Tom replied, staring at the perfectly serious Joelina, trying his very best to read the stoic woman, which was easier than normal actually. She was tense, but she seemed pleased, the edges of her mouth twisting upwards just a bit as he had answered in the affirmative.

“Quite. So then. Since, unlike you, my symptoms seem to be receding, I believe we may both agree not to try another session. End while the going is good and all that.”

Tom just stared for a second, no one making a sound before he nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good idea.”

“Very good, you may then count on me to spread the information that humans are not to be mindread. It should not be very hard to convince anyone if I show them but a smidgen of what I have seen and been through,” she replied with a slow sincere-looking nod, head still resting on her hands.

“Out of curiosity, what might that be?” Tom asked, not sure if he really wanted to know or he would rather live in blissful ignorance.

“Well, that brings us to the matters I wished to discuss. But it sounded like we had something else to get done first?” Joelina questioned, looking around the room, letting her gaze rest on Nunuk.

The lady hadn’t seemed overly surprised by anything that was said thus far, Tom guessing Kokashi’s ears deserved the credit for some of that at least. But she did look a little less pissed than when she started at least.

“Yes, I will try to calm my people down and reestablish some of their faith in the Inquisition, and I believe my daughter has made some of our demands. But, to put it plainly, I will not tolerate my people being treated as anything less than trusted and valued allies, for that is what we are.” Nunuk laid out, keeping up the commanding tone despite the slight improvement in demeanor.

“I have already agreed to as much, though not to your daughter,” Joelina replied, shifting her attention to Tom once more. “Do you remember that part by the way? It was towards the end of everything going on.”

“I do, at least sorta. I feel like I should apologize for some of the language used,” Tom replied, picking up on the rather formal tone everyone was using right now.

“Marvelous,” Joelina replied with an over-exaggerated smile, clasping her hands together. The smile didn’t suit her in the slightest. It wasn’t a warm smile. In fact it almost made her seem cruel as she turned her attention back to Nunuk. “But yes, for the sake of everyone else: I completed my goal of evaluating Tom’s character as well as understanding his motivations. I have found no problem with them, much as his people terrify me. As an apology for some of the grief caused I agreed to his terms as well as a bit extra. They are much the same as yours if I remember accurately. I do not believe my recollections can be trusted entirely though.”

“It sounds about right. I just put it less nicely,” Tom replied with a strained chuckle, trying to think back. ‘What does she mean ‘extra’? Did I forget something… not too hard to believe…’

“Very good then. Does that address your concerns then, Lady Nunuk?” Joelina replied, leaning back in her chair, staring at the woman with what Tom recognized as false calm. She was tense as a bow, yet she let her fingers dance on the armrest. Then again, Tom guessed thinking there was a knife at your throat could do that to a person.

“On that point yes. However it was implied that Investigator Paulin is the one that will be in charge here in the future though. Correct?” Nunuk questioned with an unamused expression, looking at the investigator, who in turn looked to Joelina.

“I believe so, yes. She is not easily replaced, though she will now have orders to treat you all more… decently,” Joelina replied, the smile on her face sticking like glue. “I am leaving a counterpart for her in the mines too. I doubt you will see him much, but he will be given the same instructions.”

“That will do then. Paulin, I now have your orders, attempting to get around them will not be tolerated,” Nunuk replied, staring daggers at the investigator to drive home the point. “Now, we have prisoners, a black dragon, and buildings to deal with. Are those plans changed?”

“No, get the dragon back here as soon as possible and consolidate. We do not want someone breaking her out too easily. The prisoners depart with Joelina,” Paulin responded in prim and proper fashion, not seeming to take the lady’s insinuation to heart.

“I leave the day after tomorrow. If I am not recovered yet, then I shall have the flight to do so,” Joelina added in no uncertain terms.

“One last matter of practicality,” Paulin carried on clearing her throat and looking to Joelina, “Your gift, Inquisitor?”

“Oh of course yes. Paulin assured me that despite some of your memories you would not mind if a gift is not a surprise. What was is you found out, Paulin?”

“Suitable gifts would be a magic blade for Jacky, preferably a hunting knife, and a set of armor for Tom, even though it comes with considerable difficulties.”

“Oh,” Tom blurted out, staring at her a touch dumbfounded. He had not seen that coming with everything that had been going on. Glazz did not look happy in the slightest, a sneer creeping onto her face as she stared at Jacky.

He threw a quick glance up at Jacky, who was staring at the inquisitor now with an equally dumbfounded expression on her face like she had no clue what to do with that.

“That is a mighty generous gift, Inquisitor,” Nunuk interjected, breaking the slight awkward silence. “How do you plan on finding a fitting set though?”

“I ask for the closest we can find, then you will have to handle the rest. I am sure you won’t be that busy during winter.”

The Lady nodded slowly, not disagreeing with that statement though clearly pondering the proposition.

“It will be a proper set? Plate and everything to keep him safe?” Jacky questioned, conflict clear in her voice.

“It will be the best we can find. I do not know what can be scrounged up, but gold talks, and frankly I would rather pay my way out of this mess than spend time I do not have.”

‘Not a terribly nice way to put it, but I guess fair enough,’ Tom sighed to himself. He knew a set of armor like that cost a fortune, but so did most of everything that had been brought to the keep, so what was a bit more gold he guessed.

“That is… acceptable,” Jacky finally replied reluctantly. “Eye for an eye.”

“Marvelous, Paulin will talk with your smith. I am sure she could help with what we would have to look for. Now is that the end of the practical matters?” Joelina questioned, looking around at the room.

“One thing,” Rachuck interrupted, clearing his throat. ”Would a round of the island perhaps not be a good idea, if for nothing else then to relay some information to the two other keeps?”

“Yes, a fine idea. Might turn up our two missing brigands too. The construction team at Hylsdahl needs to be informed they are being requisitioned as soon as they can finish their work on that little keep. Who to send… Send Glira once Yldril is secured here at the keep. If any of them can find the stragglers it’s probably her.”

Paulin cleared her throat a little, gaining the inquisitor's attention and leaning in to whisper something into her ear. Joelina took a second to think before nodding her agreement to whatever it was that was said. “Also yes, a gift for the Bizmati family for all the trouble caused. I believe we can do without a visit from the tax man this year. It’s my understanding you already had one such visit after all,” Joelina carried on with what Tom could only imagine was her best attempt at being funny.

“That would be most appreciated. I am sure you don’t want anyone trying to take exhaustive records of most of the things that have… ended up here,” Nunuk replied with a nod, her expression warming up a little further. Tom could almost feel the sigh of relief from Dakota as the old Lady continued, looking to him instead. “Now Tom, would you like us to leave for whatever the inquisitor has to ask you next? I believe our concerns have been settled without a fight. Counter to expectations.”

“Yeah, probably for the best,” Tom sighed in response. He had no clue what was gonna be on the table, but he had a feeling it might be rather embarrassing.

“As you wish,” Nunuk replied with a nod, getting up with the help of Rachuck, Dakota soon at her side too, the two siblings escorting her out the room. Linkosta followed, writing things down in a booklet hurriedly as she went.

“Don’t you look at me, I’m not going anywhere,” Jacky let out just as Tom started to turn his head to look at her standing at his side.

“I was gonna ask you to stay,” he just chuckled, leaning back in the chair. “Right then.”

“Right then indeed. So, Mister Tomas Hansen. How do you dream again?”

With what followed, Tom had to commend Jacky on keeping a straight face for as long as she did. It likely helped that she could revert to trying to kill Glazz through staring whenever it got too much for her. As for Tom, having to stay perfectly straight-faced and tell a grown woman what pop music was, not to mention the internet, was near impossible. He had really wanted to avoid certain subjects, but she knew too much. That had led to 4Chan, Reddit, youtube, and, possibly worst of all, live leak. How on Earth or whatever this planet was called she knew about them he could not fathom, and he didn’t have the discipline leftover to think about it either. The last bits of her calm demeanor had slowly started to crack. It was replaced with what Tom would call a more ‘wild conspiracy theorist vibe.’ It had not started getting properly absurd until she reached the subject of her latest dreams though.

Apparently, she had been blessed with a childhood dream of him having a nice day at an aquarium back when he was just a little crotch goblin. He had done his best to explain what a tropical fish was, why anyone would go to a place where you could see fish, and why on god’s green Earth they were so pretty and colorful. Her mad rambling about how they were supposed to be cruel coldhearted killing machines incapable of feeling even a sliver of guilt as they devoured an entire school trip from the Saint Nicker’s school for the mentally disabled orphans had damn near broke him.

The following tirade about why one would even make a school for such unfortunate children or how you even ended up with enough of them in one place to make such a thing viable had left him nearly weeping trying not to laugh, but incredibly Joelina didn’t care at all. He didn’t quite know where she had gotten that whole thing from, but he suspected that he was probably somehow responsible, maybe dark humor didn’t translate well through dreams. The inquisitor’s comment about why one needed to give such children brightly colored helmets as opposed to the means to blend into a crowd had done the trick though as he broke out laughing.

It would seem the inquisitor had some time ago left the realm of reason since she simply carried right on with him cackling away. Next up had been a memory of a snowball fight Tom remembered losing… badly. Try as he might, Tom couldn’t explain to her it was in fact a game and not a mass torturing ritual carried out by mere children upon each other to weed out the weak willed.

To Tom’s relief she had eventually come back to his taste in music, which she had apparently been intimately acquainted with. ‘Damn, I wish I got to see this much of my own dreams… 500 says she started poking around her own dreams and it went downhill from there,’ Tom wheezed to himself as he slowly got his laughing under control again, monumental as the task was.

Jacky was chuckling too. Glazz was shaking her head slowly by now, seeming more embarrassed than anything, and Paulin was looking very cross indeed. The inquisitor herself seemed ready to get out the pins and red thread and go to work on the nearest wall, granite’s unsuitability be damned.

“You know what, Joelina?” Tom tried, earning the inquisitor’s undivided attention after having taken a few more seconds to get himself in order.

“I think you just need to see more. It will make sense eventually. Not like it matters if you wanna judge my people, but you said so yourself. You found no flaw with my motivations or way of thinking. It makes sense to me. So good luck, and yes it is all quite normal. For the record, the answer on the fish is they are too stupid to think much. Hell sharks are terrifying, yet they are so stupid turning them upside down in the water literally turns some of them off.”

“Impossible, they must be machines then. Underwater craft, the crew was dislodged by the flipping.”

“Ma’am… A shark can be this small,” Tom replied, holding out his arms to indicate a rather benign specimen. “And the Chinese and Japanese cut up more than enough of them for us to be quite sure what’s inside.”

“Right, of course. There is much more to discover. Tom, I must ask you though, you said to me before that you do not dream like us. You simply experience something made up by your mind. Not a memory, not a vision. Correct?”

“More or less, yeah. Sometimes it’s pure fiction, sometimes memories are mixed in. It’s always strange though. It’s basically whatever our mind can come up with,” Tom tried, keeping close tabs on his breathing as he tried to calm down. Jacky actually placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a little squeeze. A quick glance up at her revealed she was struggling not to smile herself.

“I concur. Tom, I believe you have taught me to dream, only what I am seeing is your dreams, most bizarre,” Joelina replied perfectly seriously, rubbing her chin and putting a foot up on the chair she was sitting on so she could rest her head on her knee.

“Sounds like it. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot then. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

“But I will not be able to tell what is real and what is not? This is a blessing and a curse. In equal measure!”

“Eh, you’ll learn at some point, I guess. Can you like walk around and do things in the dreams?” Tom questioned, starting to actually take this a little more seriously. He pondered if maybe some of that lucid dreaming stuff his mother had talked about years ago would actually work on a dragonette.

“What do you mean?”

“Are you lucid? Or just along for the ride? So to speak.”

“I… I have not considered this. I have simply attempted to understand these visions. I live them much like when reading someone’s mind. It is exhausting but exhilarating at the same time.”

“Oh, so you’re not just watching like an eye in the sky? You feel it all? Touch, smell, sound, and so on?”

“Correct,” Joelina replied with a nod, pulling back and crouching down on the chair, looking around the room like a scared predator afraid it was being watched, which he found a touch odd. Were the hallucinations fucking with her maybe?

“But you have only had a couple days to sleep, how many dreams have you had?” Tom questioned, eyeing her more closely as her head flicked around. He didn’t seem to be the object of attention anymore, but her ears remained swiveled his way.

“Dozens. I have made note of everything.”

“Huh… that’s odd,” Tom let out, trying to not sound concerned that the Inquisitor was still appearing almost animalistic in her motions as she sat on the chair curled up like a tight spring, ready to launch herself at the ceiling like a startled cat. “Some memory you got there.”

“My memory is always perfect. This is what I do, Human,” Joelina snarled in response, Glazz stepping forward and clearing her throat.

“Inquisitor. You are going to have to calm down now.”

Joelina looked at Glazz before starting to survey the room, blinking a couple times, “A tall order, Glazz. We are not alone, you know.”

“Oh shut up. You know none of it is real. Stand up and get on with your job, Ma’am,” Glazz ordered, Joelina complying, standing up slowly and turning to face Tom, a slight twitch at the corner of an eye.

“We’re done here… For now. Paulin is keeping an eye on you. We know you are remembering things you shouldn’t,” Glazz carried on in a professional if a little tired-sounding voice, staring at Jacky before giving Tom a quick nod.

“But so do I now. For me it is my job. For you, it is a danger,” Joelina added in, almost hissing, Glazz moving an arm under her robe.

“Only if you’re the heretic here,” Tom replied, doing his best to stare down the manic-looking woman. “Not my first shit show, I’ll do my best. I won’t go spilling your beans. And you don’t spill mine. All good?”

“All good… In exchange for answering more questions in future. I am sure there will be many,” Joelina replied, still seeming lucid enough to think and answer questions, but damn if she didn’t look just a little creepy right now. Glazz didn’t move from her spot right next to the inquisitor, her gaze locked on Joelina unblinkingly.

“Oh you have no idea. Let’s go Jacky. I’m sure we have shit to do.”

“Yup, such as finding civilized company,” Jackly replied, promptly hefting her halberd as Tom got up, turning for the door.

No one stopped them or objected as they left, but Tom could feel the eyes of at least Joelina follow him. Then Jacky started humming to herself.

“*gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight.*”

Tom hurried up just a bit, as he could actually hear Joelina’s teeth grate as she let out a growl. He imagined that had cost more than a couple of blood vessels in her eyes, and he sighed a sigh of relief as the two guards outside shut the door behind them. ‘Oh Jacky, you beautiful maniac.’

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It turned out Saph didn’t even need to go fetch Tom to inquire about the meaning of his changes to Edita’s now favorite pieces of paper. The human had elected to show himself willingly. It was quite a relief to see him walking around and not looking too bad at all, but she knew better than to judge a book by its cover by now. His smile was just a touch too wide and he was a little too happy considering everything that had happened since Joelina arrived.

‘He’s bluffing,’ she concluded a little sadly. Still, it was good to see him on two feet again. And he sure seemed to be thinking clearly once more. He also had the energy to answer the avalanche of questions that faced him the second he entered the workshop. They mainly came from Edita, but Tink and Saph herself had also gotten in a word or two. She had tried to get him to talk about how he was feeling, but it hadn’t really worked since the current company soon had them careening down the slope of technobabble.

Saph decided that waiting till some other time was probably the smarter option, and so she instead took an interest in Jacky, who had been watching from the sideline aside from adding in a word or two whenever something she found interesting came up. It was clear it was Tom she was actually keeping an eye on as the discussion carried on.

Her old friend was lugging around her halberd despite not being in full armor. She was sporting bracers, greaves, gauntlets, and the breastplate from her huntress armor. In short, the things one could put on in a hurry and still be comfortable in all day. As the geeks settled in properly to their discussion, Saph managed to gently drag Jacky into a corner. Jacky for her part didn’t seem to mind much, though she kept her eyes on Tom as he chatted merrily with the other geeks.

“So… how are you doing?” Saph asked in a whisper, hoping to have a little private conversation between just the two of them.

“Marvelously,” Jacky replied disinterestedly, still looking at Tom, though she did bother to reply in a whisper at least.

“You know what I mean. How are you feeling?”

“Ehhh…” Jacky replied with a long sigh. “Yesterday was pretty nice. Watched movies and cuddled all day, pretty much. I got to play a computer game too… it was a bit strange, not really what I had imagined.”

“Well that’s good… has he said sorry for any of the things he did?... I mean, I know tha-”

“He tried, I didn’t let him. What’s the point, not like it was his damn fault… That, and it might be nice if he can’t be too mad about me doing something dumb at some point.”

‘That’s a remarkable amount of foresight… I guess,’ Saph pondered to herself. Jacky was possibly the least conniving person she knew. ‘This doesn’t sound like her at all.’

“Oh and he stood up to the inquisitor for the first time. Well, it’s the first time I actually got to see it at least. Apparently, she got a taste of some human swear words when they were both under.”

“Is… Is that a good thing?” Saph questioned, throwing a glance at the overenthusiastic Tom, who was now trying to explain something he was apparently quite impressed by them working out.

“Fuck yeah it is, she didn’t even try to fight him really. We’re on top now. The bitch is cracked. You should have seen her, she’s soo pissed she can’t work out what it is she’s seeing half the time. Don't tell this to anyone, but she got to see an aquarium through his dreams. Oh she hated it,” Jacky replied, getting a little carried away, her voice raising a bit.

“If you say so… I heard Nunuk went too,” Saph tried in a quieter tone, gesturing for Jacky to maybe cool it just a bit.

“Oooh yeah, she’s pissed too. She went in there with demands and everything. And those inquisitor people just nodded and said yes like I said they would. I told you they want this stuff too bad to say no to us.”

“For now,” Saph replied a little more cautiously, thinking back to yesterday’s chat with Paulin. “Did they say anything about apologizing?”

“Oh, something about not paying taxes this year. I’m guessing that’s pretty good.”

“Nothing about gifts or something?”

“Oh yeah… She wants to get me and Tom some crazy gifts. She wants to get armor for Tom and a blade for me. Magic armor and blade. Not just nice or even mithril… I think Tom scared the shit out of her.”

“Or there is actually some compassion in there somewhere?” Saph tried, pleased it didn’t seem like Jacky had worked out Saph had a hand in those gifts.

“Nah, she’s crazy right now. You should have seen her sitting on all fours on the chair, behaving like an animal. Gods that was funny.”

“I see,” Saph replied rather worriedly, staring at Jacky and trying to work out if she was perhaps embellishing the truth a little. It didn’t seem like it though, which was a little unsettling.

“Oh, but she’s fucking off soon enough. She’ll leave Paulin, and she’s been ordered to play nice. We all heard it too. Including Nunuk, Dakota, and Rachuck. She ain’t getting out of that one. She’ll have to be all sweet and ‘Yes of course,’ ‘Right away,’ ‘Oh why didn’t you say so sooner,’ It’s gonna be great.” Jacky chuckled evilly. At least she did seem to be in a genuinely good mood. It probably helped that Tom seemed to be enjoying himself, but still. It was nice to see her friend smile again. She had been through it, to put it mildly.

“It sure sounds nice… Anything about Yldril? Does Fengi also get to do what she wants, or did she draw the short straw?”

“She just wants her back here, didn’t give a shit beyond that. She’s busy trying to make heads or tails of Tom’s dreams. It was fucking hilarious, I gotta tell you.”

“Tom’s dreams?”

“Oh yeah don’t tell anyone, but the two of them have been dreaming about stuff the other one knows. It’s not just the whole mind-reading Tom stuff she has to deal with now.”

“Right… I’ll be sure not to tell anyone,” Saph replied, still keeping her voice well in check, hoping Jacky would be a bit quieter. “Even Essy and Fengi?”

“I mean… Sure Fengi. Let Essy work it out for herself. No doubt she will eventually.”

“10 silver on it taking less than a week for her?” Saph questioned, turning to look very closely at her friend's face, trying to gauge her reaction.

Jacky finally turned to look at Saph, her smile turning a touch evil as she held out her hand. “Whatever happened to betting is stupid, ey? Miss Silverstreak.”

Saph smiled in reply, content that Jacky at least seemed genuinely happy. She wasn’t faking it at all. She took her hand and shook it. “No cheating now.”

“How could I be the cheating one? You are the one who could chicken out and tell her.”

“Me cheating? Impossible. I don’t even know what the word means,” Saph snickered in reply.

“Oh you suck at lying and you know it girl.”

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