Enlightened Empire

Chapter 462: Mother's Perspective

"Mother, what are you doing here?"

Some time had passed since Inti had entered the Old Well. By now, she sat opposite her mother — Antaya di Pluritac — but she was still as confused as she had first met her here.

"What does it look like I am doing, my dear daughter?" her mother asked, without looking up from a piece of paper she was writing on. Based on the book sitting next to her, she was probably writing in code. At least that was Inti's best guess based on the nonsensical mess of numbers and letter written within.

When confronted with her mother's return question, Inti looked around in search of an answer. Considering the age and secretive nature of this hideout, it certainly looked different from what Inti had expected. First were all the people running around the place. Inti could see at least ten, all of them wearing black robes and plain, white masks with numbers stitched on their chests.

They sat around the warmly lit room on various tables and did all kinds of writing. Others entered or exited through one of several openings in the walls, put papers into archives or carried them across the room to some other station.

Though the fact that some of the tables these people were writing on were old barrels probably intended for long-storage rations tipped Inti off that this wasn't the usual operational center of Challwala. Rather, this place was improvised, and had only been set up very recently.

Just as Inti had decided that there was no point in replying to her mother's question — since the answer seemed obvious — a figure in a mask and a big '5' stitched onto their chest came up to their table and handed Antaya a piece of paper.

The woman looked at the paper for a second, before she said: "Thank you, Five," and put the paper on a pile to her left. Afterwards, without a look at her daughter, she looked back down and continued to write her original message.

"What's with the masks and the numbers?" Inti finally couldn't help herself and had to ask. They had to start this conversation some way, after all.

"Security measures. There have been a few infiltrations recently, and the current state of the city could best be described as simmering, right before a boil. We need to be efficient, and fast, so anonymity had become paramount for our people."

"And why do... all this." Inti motioned around the room, before she asked the more pertinent question. "Rather, why do you have to do it personally?"This content has its origins in n0v£lbin★

In response, Antaya looked up from her message and put down the feather quill in her hand. For a while she just stared at her daughter. Only when Inti started to squirm under her mother's stern gaze did the spy queen reply.

"I thought: If I don't look after my daughters soon, maybe all of you will end up dead, or pregnant, or worse," she said.

"So you've heard?" Inti asked, though she shouldn't be surprised. After all, Mellana would have arrived in Saniya months ago. It was hardly a shock that her mother already knew about the ridiculous actions of her selfish daughter. Meanwhile, Antaya picked her quill back up and looked back down.

"What, about the fact that you abandoned your post and have been traveling around for fun, or that you made all kinds of trouble for me in the process?" she mumbled out a question as she began scribbling. Inti frowned for a second, annoyed by her mother's accusations. Though if nothing else, she was happy that her mother hadn't seen her loss of control, and quickly fixed her expression.

"No, I was talking about Mellana," she tried to clarify. She wasn't here to talk about her own failings, though to be fair, she also hadn't really come to gossip about Mellana either.

"I have heard about everything, as you could expect." Antaya glanced up just long enough to reply, and then continued her work.

"And what she did does not bother you?" Inti probed again, this time a bit more agitated. "She's..."

"Betrayed us?" Antaya completed the words and smiled at the paper in derision.

"Did she not?" Inti crossed her arms. Was her mother deliberately trying to upset her?

"All I know is that I never had to worry about Mellana, not once in my life," Antaya replied, and once again put down the quill. This time, Antaya folded the paper, before she picked up a piece of yellow wax from a stand filled with different colors. "You on the other hand-"

"I can handle myself just fine, thank you very much," Inti huffed out an interruption, which once again let Antaya look over.

"Is that so?" she asked, and put the wax over the candle flame on the table with a mysterious smile. "Then how often, do you think, did I have to get involved to prevent your death over the past few months? Do you want to try and guess the answer?"

Silence once more forced its way between the two to increase their distance. As Inti watched the wax slowly go shiny, she thought back to her most recent adventures. It was true that her actions had been a bit reckless, and it was also true that their journey had been shockingly smooth since they had left Rhodanos. Still, she hadn't noticed anything, and couldn't confirm or deny a thing. Since she couldn't win a debate without knowing anything, Inti decided to admit defeat.

"No, thank you," she finally said, and lowered her head.

"A wise choice, for once," Antaya commented, before she began to apply wax to the outside of the folded paper she had just written.

"And what if I want to anyways?" Inti still insisted, though the motherly smile which responded her made her insistence feel childish.

"Again, this is not your decision. It is King Corcopaca's, and he will never choose you. Our family already has far too much power in the southern kingdom. I lead the ghosts, your brother is the kingdom's prime minister. Now, Tama has married that Atau boy, who's the kingdom's admiral-"

"What?" a confused Inti wondered when exactly this had happened, but her mother just pressed on.

"...and now you are playing around with his minister of finance as well. Do you really believe someone who is as careful and suspicious as King Corcopaca will just watch as our family occupies all important positions in his kingdom?"

Once more, the silence between them had returned. Finally, Inti had nothing left to say in reply.

"If this old woman had the choice, I would prefer if all of you were just like Mellana. You should just look for a good man far away from the politics of the kingdom, and find your own happiness," Antaya concluded.

After all these years, Inti had almost forgotten that in the end, her mother was just a typical medalan lady: conservative and servile. However, this was not a path Inti was willing to take. While she understood her mother's concerns, she would never agree to just throw away all the hard work over the years. Instead, she would find her own happiness, and make something of herself, her mother's blessing be damned.

Thus, rather than waste any more time on a discussion which would lead nowhere, she simply decided to move on to the main topic of their discussion. She hadn't come here to be lectured, after all.

"Anyways, I haven't come here to talk about my future husband," she forced the conversation to shift, before she realized how poorly her rude words prepared her follow-up. "I need your help."

Although Inti was embarrassed by her selfish plea, her mother just smiled.

"Only mine?" she asked, and once again began to look through the papers on her desk.

"I need access to the local forces," Inti explained the plan she had brought with her before her mother's presence had derailed her. "Minister Brymstock is about to meet with the northern lords, and I need enough people to protect them. They are all in danger."

"Of course they are." Antaya scoffed. "Why do you think I am here, in this city deep within enemy territory? Of all places in Medala, this one is the most dangerous to me."

To her shock, Inti realized that she hadn't even considered her mother's position at all. All this time, Antaya had seemed so in control that she had never believed her to be in any danger in the first place. Yet as she looked around the room again, at its improvised furniture and the masked people running around in it, she realized that this clearly wasn't the case. Something must have already happened to warrant this level of security.

Thus, Inti's mind circled back the important question: Why had her mother come here if the city was so dangerous? Although Antaya had always been quite distant, especially in recent years, their previous conversation could only lead Inti to a single conclusion.

"You came here to support us?" she guessed.

"Why else would I throw stones into this stale pond. I will only get my dress dirty." However, Inti didn't think her mother's joke was funny, so she just stared until Antaya continued. "After all, my daughter's man has poked the lion, and then foolishly ran right into the lion's cave to show off. As always, the mother will take care of her child's mess."

Although her mother had once again misidentified Brym as her man, Inti wasn't in a mood to correct her. After all, since her mother had the same goal now, her plan would become a lot easier to realize.

"Then we should activate the agents right away, to protect Brym and the lords during the meeting," she urged, yet her mother continued to work calmly.

"I have long activated them," she explained, while she added another piece of paper to a pile on her right. "In fact, ever since you entered this place, I have done nothing but coordinate our forces for your grand meeting."

Finally, all tension left Inti's body. Only when she sank into her seat did she realize just how on edge she had been all this time.

"Then there is nothing left to worry about," she said.

Now that the spy queen was in charge, she had full confidence that their plans would succeed. Yet the spy queen in question once again shook her head to contradict Inti.

"I think you are overestimating our position in Challwala. This city is among the places where we are weakest compared to the local forces. After all, we have only begun to strengthen our efforts in the north at the start of the year. Not to mention that the northern kingdom has far stronger security forces than the disjointed center," Antaya explained. "Amautu cannot use any of the emperor's old intelligence forces like the ghosts, but he has long since developed his own. Those Chutwa people have brought several experts in covert operations from their homes, and those scholars have their eyes and ears everywhere above ground. Not to mention, there is also that mysterious new organization called 'Terminus'."

"Terminus? What is that?" an intrigued Inti asked, as tension returned to her body once more. However, this time, even her mother all-knowing mother didn't have the answers.

"I am unsure. Our informants could catch little more than a name so far, but it appears to be a secret organization, we assume, specifically founded by King Amautu for the purpose of assassinations. This time, you best not expect things to go the same as usual. This time, we are at a disadvantage in both intelligence and numbers. If we want to win, we need to be smart, and move carefully. Our enemies are no pushovers."

Again, Antaya picked up her quill. Before she bent over to write another message she looked up one final time to add: "Now stop sitting around with your mouth open and help me sort these papers. We have much left to prepare."