Aether Beasts

Natalia woke up around an hour later much to our relief, mainly because we weren't certain when someone would come and check on us. It was most likely that they thought we were currently preoccupied, but that couldn't last forever, and we couldn't just knock out everyone they sent because eventually, they would catch on, and the cat would be out of the bag.

"Wha— Where am I?" Natalia shook her head and I noticed that something had changed in her eyes. They looked clearer now like she was all there. I hadn't noticed before because of the constant distractions of this place and there were other parts of her that kept drawing my attention.

"Natalia?" Zirani knelt and slowly placed a hand on the madame's head. "Are you ok, your mind clear?"

"Whose Natalia?"

Zirani sighed. "Do you not remember your time working here?"

Not Natalia frowned, and her eyes slowly widened before tears began leaking from them as she started to shake. A slow sob built up until she was weeping and Zirnai slowly pulled the girl into a hug which she didn't refuse.

"What's happening?" Sandra asked.

"She's remembering," Zirani said in a sad tone. "The shroud is gone and she's seeing all the things she's done, she was manipulated to do. She's looking at things in clarity rather than with the rose-tinted glasses of the mental shroud which was manipulating her in many ways, though I think its main purpose was making her very agreeable and blocking out certain thoughts among other things."

"What do we do now?" I asked. "We can't stay here, but we also can't just leave it as it is. All working girls are essentially just sex slaves."

"We're not," Zirani replied firmly. "Sandra, can you take her to the bedroom and calm her down? I need to think."

Sandra nodded and helped the former madame to her feet before walking her into the attached bedroom.

"Ok, so the plan?" I raised an eyebrow

"First thing we need to do is find whatever is creating the mental shrouds," Zirani explained. "I can track it, but we also need to take care. This place is undoubtedly funded by many wealthy patrons who live in the city. We don't just need to free the girls, but also find them a place to stay while we sort them out. I'm hoping someone from my court will arrive with the expedition as that should give us enough influence and power to do as we like as long as we don't step on the toes of the others who are part of the expedition."

"Where could we keep them?" I questioned. "Our suite isn't big enough and even if it were how would we get them there."

Zirani was quiet for a long moment, and through our bond, I could see she was deep in thought about a certain technique. "I have an idea, but I haven't tested it extensively. I can create a pocket space within a large enough tree for them, like a house that's bigger on the inside."

I blinked. "Really, since when?"

"What do you think I'm doing in my spare time?" Zirani asked. "I've been trying to get better with our spatial aspect, including enchantments and arrays. So, what do you think?'

"I say we do it." I shrugged. "You haven't failed before, and there aren't really any other options. I suppose we could rent out a building, but that would involve leaving and coming back, but we can't leave Natalia, or whatever her name is, here, and taking her means they will notice, and that will make things harder."

"Fair enough." She nodded. "Now we just need to find an area to put the tree in."

"I think I know a place," I said, remembering an area we'd passed when Sandra and I had been trialing the three arcanists from the burning sect. "There's this garden area, like a park, full of greenery. It's for show and guarded so we don't have to worry about it being cut down, though you'll have to make the tree look exotic. None of the plants I saw looked particularly normal."

"And we can teleport in and out easily." Zirani smiled. "Good idea. I'll have to head there and make the tree and then you can teleport them in pairs if it works."

I walked over and gave her a quick kiss. "I have faith, though we're going to need whatever her name is to do some acting so if anyone comes she can say that we're busy having fun or something."

"You'd like that wouldn't you." Zirani chuckled as I blushed. "I see the way you look at her. I don't blame you, but keep it in your pants until we're done."

I coughed. "Got it."

With that, Zirani focused and was gone in a blink, not even needing a marker or anything to teleport to the park. Her ability with the green was still a level far above mine, though not as it once had been. Where once it had been like staring up a tower that kept on going and no matter how high I climbed it never seemed like I was making any progress, but now it did. I was learning a lot and soon, even more, when we reached the green court. It would come with its own problems, but like everything else, I hoped would get through it.

"Where's Zirani?"

I turned as Sandra walked back into the room, gently closing the bedroom door behind her.

"She ok?"

Sandra shrugged. "I don't think so, she fell asleep."

"I see." I sighed unable to imagine what she must be feeling. "Zirani and I came up with a plan. She's gone to get it started and when she's done the chaos starts."

I explained the plan to her which she found ideal as she had no desire to leave anyone behind. We decided to just relax while Zirani did her work since there wasnt really anything else we could do. Going out was risky since we could run into someone curious about the former madame or into one of the three arcanists in which case I didn't know if I would be able to stop myself from attacking.

"Did you find out her real name?"

"No," Sandra replied. "When she stopped crying she just passed out, probably from mental fatigue."

I walked over to one of the seats and sat, thinking about how we always seemed to end up in these sorts of situations, then again it's not like we ever tried to avoid them. We could have left the three arcanists alone and just waited until they acted again, but I wasnt the type to just sit back and watch, especially not when it had something to do with a loved one. If they hadn't messed with Misty that I might have given them a glare and moved on.

As I sat, I focused on my bond with Zirani. She had reached the garden and was in the process of creating a tree, an exotic type that looked like a tree from the second floor of the tower, though not as large. After all, it needed to fit in and people would ask questions if she made it the size of a large building or if it was a giant mushroom.

An hour passed before we got any visitors, and Sandra and I glanced at each other worriedly before looking at the door.

"Natalia, you in there?'

Before I could say anything, Sandra spoke up in a relaxed and sensual tone. "She's… preoccupied."

I raised an eyebrow to which Sandra just rolled her eyes and sent over a mental message asking me to play along. The room was soundproof, but people outside the room could still communicate with those inside by standing next to the door, at least that was what it seemed like from the enchantments.

"Oh, how long?" the voice replied.

"We've paid her enough so several nights," Sandra said with a grimace. "Now please, your interrupting."

"Ok, but she needs to check up in a few hours."

"Heard loud and clear," I replied with a fake moan.

We waited but no more response came, and I sighed in relief. So we had a few hours. That would be more than enough as Zirani was done and was just getting the inside done. Apparently, she was making sure there would be plenty of breathable fresh air inside so that people could actually survive in there. I knew that at a certain level you stopped needing air to survive and could live off aether alone, but we weren't at that stage yet, let alone the working girls.

"And done," Zirani announced, and a moment later she was back in the private room next to the tree which I had been feeding aether to keep going. "It's working."

"Good," I replied. "Now I guess it's just the tracking?"

Zirani nodded. "Once we find what is responsible we destroy it and then get the girls to this room. I'll handle that part while you and Sandra work on getting rid of the object and those three."

Sandra smiled. "I'm happy with that."