Reincarnated! A Tale of the Sorceress Amaya

With the guard handling the aftermath we took flight and left. “So what do we do now? Should we look for Shani? Or go back to the palace?” Lucy asked mentally.

“Hm. We could check up on Loriel back at the palace. But she can handle herself. This does not seem to be aimed at the delegations. Unless it is a distraction for a bigger strike…”

“It does look more like imperial infighting, true. Also, it interrupted our date. Could they not have done that tomorrow?” Lucy complained.

“It is terribly rude of them, yes. Now I almost hope Shani ruins someone's day.”

“You know what? Maybe we should get coffee. Let the Empire deal with this, for now.”

While our dinner was not that long ago the time was always right for some coffee. “You truly know the way to my heart. Let’s go.”

I expected to see more explosions. Shani was not subtle in the past. But the city seemed quiet. Maybe this was an isolated incident? Just a warning? Maybe someone simply wanted to spread fear? Thankfully it was not really my problem to solve.

Lucy took the lead and landed next to a small cafe. It was located in a small street and had a few tables outside. The area looked decent but not overly fancy. After landing we settled down at a small table. There were not too many people around but we got some stares. I suppose someone arriving by flight was not the most common occurrence. A waitress immediately hurried over to us.

“Greetings my ladies, what can I get you?”

“Two black coffees and a big chocolate sundae to share.” Lucy ordered. I had no idea how she knew the menu. Maybe she just guessed. She knew my tastes so I just relaxed and allowed her to treat me.

As we were sitting something occurred to me: “Lucy, is it normal that places have chairs that work with tails? I don’t remember it ever being an issue so far.” The backrest on our current chairs was not completely closed so her tail could poke through it.

“While the Empire is rather human centric, high class establishments tend to pride themselves on accommodating everyone. Well, everyone who has money and power. I have also heard that some dragons keep their tails when shifting to a humanoid form.” She paused, as our order arrived, to thank the waitress. Then she continued. “When it comes to middle and lower class establishments it depends. Certain chair designs have bars as a backrest. So there are natural holes anyway. They might not be designed for tails but work just fine. Often the decor of a tavern depends on the people they want to attract. Thankfully my tail is rather fluffy and it does not hurt to lean against it, or sit on it. While I prefer to have a hole for it I can manage either way.”

While I digested that information Lucy took a big spoon full of ice cream covered in chocolate sauce. Her tail swished contentedly.

“I could help you brush it in the future…” I offered.

Lucy smiled. “I would love that. Where does this sudden interest come from? You have never paid much attention to it until recently.”

I blushed slightly. “Um… I always loved your tail. I just felt it would be inappropriate to stare…”

“I like the thought of you doing inappropriate things with me.” Lucy teased telepathically.

My cheeks burned as my imagination went wild. I quickly tried to distract myself with ice cream. Lucy’s knowing smirk was not helpful. I had to admit I enjoyed her teasing though.

We spent some more time at the cafe. I was beginning to think today’s excitement was over when I heard a siren. Lucy sighed. “If there is an alarm going off in the city that means something really big is happening. We might have to get involved, again.” She said,

“Shani should be around for another 30 minutes, if she did not get defeated. Somehow I think she will be in the middle of this.”

“I am not betting against that.”

We both got up and Lucy placed some coins on the table. At least we had already finished. We flew straight up to get a better look. Smoke rose from several parts of the city. But one location looked really bad. Black clouds started to gather on top of it. “Is that a military compound?” I wondered.

“Uh… I think that is the main garrison of the city, yes.” Lucy said.

“And with all that lightning Shani is probably there…”

“Eh sure, but clearly there is more going on in the city.” Lucy pointed at all the places where smoke was visible.

“True, but we might have to take this more seriously.”

Lucy nodded. Her spear was already in her hand as we flew towards the gathering storm.