Chapter 222 Part B2

  Ness'ryn'dyl POV

  Fae Citadel Park in front of the Grand Citadel of the Fae Fortress City

  I stopped on the park bench to eat my lunch. Ah, this is good. Rice with breaded chicken cutlets topped with teriyaki sauce. There's a bunch of boiled string beans with cream butter succulently melting over them and salt in the corner of the square tray. Then another corner of the tray has pudding. LOTS of pudding. I was supposed to have dinner roll of some kind in the other corner but I'd snatched a 2nd pudding instead.

  Yes. I was going to be one of those people that have their pudding and eat it too. I'm a bit of a stress eater, but it doesn't matter since fae don't get fat. My appearance stat hides it. You'd never guess I have this problem.

  And I considered my current assignment. The target Shun.

  Why this target? Why am I supposed to sway him?

  The mission instructions weren't clear yet. Rather, they hadn't said yet what the instructions were other than to be his secretary.

  I felt disappointed. I was supposed to be up for promotion. Big promotion and very overqualified. I was going to be the General's Aide. Nobody was better than me. I was near the top of my css and had magic status. There weren't very many time space element mages among any race also and I had that too. In another couple centuries I'd probably have archmage status myself.

  There were 3 others, along with myself all competing for the job to become the General's Aide. That's what I'd applied to and only that. I'd passed 2 out of the 3 interviews with excellent scores, and I had been waiting to heard from then when the 3rd interview was going to be; of which I'd expected to ace perfectly also. I'd also lined up a chance to become one of the head aides for one of the fae princes also in the off chance I didn't get to be the General's Aide.

  The General and being in his inner circle staff group were a chance to make a difference! To really work to save the fae nation! It was a small city state in territory. But under the table, the fae controlled rge swaths of dungeon floors in this area that multiplied their territory handsomely.

  Nearby us were the Skylight Empire, The Vysknd Empire, and the nomad peoples of the pins. Then ter the daemon teeth fortresses had appeared and began sieging our one city here. The siege ... wasn't felt by the people in the city. But that was by design. The military hid that from the humans and other demi-humans particurly to keep them working and keep the trade going that was necessary to keep them all fed.

  It seemed like it was getting to be more intense with the stand off between the fae alliance and the daemon races. Every year more casualties, every year the bck shadow daemon fortresses pumped out more soldiers than before. This was why I thought I'd be able to do the most good with the General's Aide job. A bit of patriotism, and yet not having to go to the front lines.

  It was the perfect scenario. And then instead I'd been completely shocked when about a week ago they'd assigned me to this... human... Shun instead. I'm not racist against humans... but they age so quickly that it'd be challenging to like the job. The human didn't show up to the office everyday like a normal person. In fact, he acted like he wasn't really interested in working with the fae... which was strange given that most humans were begging the fae to share their magic secrets with them.

  And now I'm eating my lunch. As I pondered what to do.

  "Hello sister," my sister smiled and appeared waving at me.

  Where did she come from?

  "Hi Tav'yth. Its so nice to see you. I haven't seen you in what 3 months? Its been too long," I told her.

  My sister hugged me. And her smile was genuine. "Ness! I'm so happy to see you. I hear good things about you. You seem to be quite a go getter. I hear you got promoted."

  I frowned. "Well... I thought I was going to get promoted. But they sent me to special projects instead. I'm very confused by it. I was the best candidate with the best scores for the position I wanted. But they diverted me to something else. Something...undesirable. I even feel...annoyed."

  "Oh. Sorry to hear about that. Do you want to talk about it?" my sister Tav'yth was so emphathetic and nice. Her heart was of gold too. In fact, I wanted to be more like her. She always seemed happier than me. She sat down with me, and put her arm around me.

  What a good sister!

  "I wish I could. But its been tagged for bck ops. I can't even say ...where I'm working even though its in the fortress here," I grumbled.

  She nodded. "Oh that lunch looks good. Let me have a bite please!" she pleaded.

  "No, no, nooo wait!" I protested.

  But I was too te. She'd already lifted out one of the best cutlets.

  Oh well...

  We continued eating my beautiful lunch. I tried to hog the breaded meat cutlets to myself but couldn't fight off her attacks. 3 cutlets were lost... leaving me with only 4 left.

  "Darn you Tav'yth. Did you come here just to save on lunch money?! You hag!" I told her.

  She just ughed and dodged my pyful swipe. She wasn't offended, and I wasn't really mad at her. We had pyful banter like this often. "Sorry sorry! But you get the best lunches. I could smell it from a hundred paces away. Your cooking skills are better than mom's!"

  "That's because mom would even burn boiling water..."

  "True..."

  We ughed again.

  "OK sis, I have to get going. But I have to tell you something important," Tavyth got serious.

  Uh oh. I didn't like it when she was like this.

  All fae had magic. Tavyth was spooky though. Sometimes she could tell the future. She couldn't control when she got it. But when it manifested she was always right. She wasn't able to be consistent with when she wanted to use it like the Scarred Fae though; nobody had that level of power after all.

  "OK...?" I listened.

  "Something bad is going to happen this year in the fae fortress city. A lot of people could die if you quit your job. Whatever happens stay the course," she said.

  I flinched. I was going to quit the job working for the human mage Shun that they'd assigned me too. She couldn't have known that. I hadn't told a soul.

  "What?"

  "I think you heard me. But you have doubts," she said.

  "D-don't quit?" I said.

  "If you quit, tens of thousands of fae will die," she said. Her hand is...having tremors right now. And I can see she's a bit shaken up.

  "What did you see?"

  "I-I can't talk about it. You know that. But don't quit. No matter what. Only you can do this. When I... the ... other pieces can't change anything... only you," she seemed to be staring off into space.

  Then she's gone. I wish I'd been able to ask her more.

  Dang it. I really wanted that job to work with the general. Working for a fae general was my life dream. Fae women aren't allowed to be generals in the Fae Military system. But any good general does consult and use their aides. So it was the closest I was going to get.

  I stared at the geese in the pond in front of me.

  So peaceful...

  But then another aide staffer is running up to greet me.

  "Ness'ryn'dyl! Hello! How are you?" a fairly handsome fae young man is there smiling at me.

  He has the sharp features and white hair that many of our race have. Dark brooding eyebrows, and an energetic pace compliment it with very luminescent green eyes.

  He'd been trying to get close to me for months now. I wasn't sure what to make of him yet.

  "What do you want?" I couldn't betray my depression.

  "Um... Oh I want to ask you out on a date!" he said smiling big.

  "Uh...now isn't a good time. I need to figure something out," I frowned.

  If what my sister said is true, I can't be fooling around with boys right now. I need to have a clear head.

  "Oh. That's too bad. I hoped to date you. You are beautiful even among beautiful fae women where ugliness doesn't exist. Are you sure you won't reconsider?" he pyfully bantered. He seemed sort of full of himself and offered me a white rose. But I suspect he was the type that always bought them and tried to bribe women with them often.

  But now after talking to my sister I can see things clearly.

  This guy doesn't work hard. He's not an achiever. At best he's probably a pyboy if not worse. He seems like the type that only care for appearance and social css. He wears fancy clothes that you can't get dirty, so you'd have to ask others to do hard things for you.

  If I hadn't run into my sister I wouldn't have seen it!

  Why am I wasting my life?

  I felt a bit shaken up too. If my sister hadn't come to me just now I would have gone out with this guy that I now see is shallow...

  Is that why she appeared then? It could have distracted me. I can't afford any distractions now.

  Hm....

  The fae young man left. I don't regret it, though I do think he's the nephew of one of the fae princes.

  I sighed. Even though he isn't the right one, I hate to burn any chance of finding a future.

  ...

  My lunch break was ending.

  But as I walked back to the administration wing of the fae fortress someone else is running up to me. This is weird...normally I don't get a lot of visitors.

  "Ness! How are you?" the red haired fae young woman is out of breath from running to meet me. She squeezed my hand as she's trying to catch her breath.

  "Zhezzin. Hi. Its been too long since I saw you st," I greeted her with a bow.

  "And me as well."

  "Do you need to sit? You don't look well," I told her.

  "There's no time. Something big is going down. They are calling an emergency meeting. All the aides and high level security clearances are coming to this. I was sent to come get you," she said.

  "When? My schedule is full tomorrow," I told her frowning.

  "No. Not tomorrow. NOW! And you have to go. I was told to find you as fast as I could. Come..." she gestured.

  Now? That's weird. They always try to give us a day on even big important meetings.

  I wonder what this is about...

  And is that guy... Shan, no wait, Shun, my recent new assignment is that reted?