[center][b]Intermission: Laenaia and Zin[/b][/center]
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Laenaia traced her finger against the spine of the books lined up on the shelf in the Library she picked for her talk with Zin whom she was sure belonged to the same vampiric brood as she was and unless she was mistaken, both of them learned magics that affects the mind. It would be nice if she can get along well with the other. Her finger stopped on one of the books, one with a green cover and yellowing pages. Taking the book out of its place, Laenaia brought it to one of the available seat provided for the Library's visitors. In any other time, she would have started reading, but at the moment, she was looking forward to being able to sit down in a quiet place and just talk. The vampiress flipped through several pages before pausing and looked up from her book to look for any sign of the other vampire. 

Zin entered the library a couple minutes after the time Laenaia had asked to meet her there. She was normally quite punctual, but various minor events and barriers had conspired against her this day. As she walked into the blessedly shaded building she pulled back the hood of her cloak, letting free her short blonde hair for anyone who cared to look. Zin's eyes were unaltered today, the silver of vampires rather than the blue illusion she used as a disguise. Renalta was a very welcoming and friendly place for vampires, especially those of Diana's brood, so she often went about the city without bothering to hide her nature.

She spotted Laenaia fairly quickly after entering and headed straight for the other woman. There was no doubt in Zin's mind that the other Queen's Blade was a vampire as well, and one of her own brood for that matter. She walked over and sat in the chair beside Laenaia's chosen seat, letting her cloak spread open in the front to reveal a set of nicely made and fashionably cut linen clothing, brown trousers and a white blouse that were quite fitting for an affluent merchant, which Zin in fact happened to be. She greeted Laenaia with a slight but pleasant smile. "Sorry I'm late, it's been a long day. I almost wish I could be on another mission like Arian instead of doing paperwork." Zin lifted up her left hand to show a few spots of black ink marring her pale skin. "But only almost. How have you been?"

Laenaia returned Zin's smile with her own, "It's alright, I haven't been here long myself, though I would say that I wasn't burdened so much with the paperwork, it must be because of our differing . I admit a mission like Arian could've gone better and I wished I could've done more, it's embarassing to pass out like that. It's a vain hope, considering the reason the Blades was formed in the first place, but I do hope not all of our mission would be as...bloody as our first."

Pausing, Laenaia directed her blue eyes to gaze at Zin's silver before giggling and her eye color changed to match Zin's own, "I must say, it was a nice change that even when they noticed their first reaction was not to raise pitchforks and prepare a pyre. How fare thee, sister?"

A touch of worry and fear was evident in Zin's eyes when the other woman mentioned the possibility of more bloody missions in the future, but the change of subject put her mind at ease. "Yes, Renalta is a very accepting land. Far more so than my homeland. Liveria..." She trailed off with a faint smile and a shrug. Everyone knew how the Kingdom of Liveria felt about vampires and other such beings, so no more truly needed to be said.

"Yes, that's a place I'd rather not visit if I have the freedom where to go, much alike with the Templar Order's territory," replied Laenaia, shaking her head. 

Zin nodded and continued on, answering the question she'd been asked. "I've been busy with the aforementioned paperwork." She indicated the ink splotches on her hand once more. "I discovered that when I'm not around the store very little of the tedious paperwork gets done, so that has been most my life since returning to Renalta. I found a bit of time to do some studying in the magical arts though, and I've been learning the rudiments of healing. After the messy business of Arian it seemed a rather necessary line of study."

"How admirable, then again, maybe you should consider getting a hand for it? It's highly possible that the mission we'd be send to would take quite awhile before we can return, though a trustworthy person might be hard to find...." Laenaia said, her face turn thoughtful. "Healing....ah, I admit that I also wanting to be of more use in the field and has been trying to learn another school of magic, but I didn't think to learn healing....maybe it's because I'm not as compassionate a person as you are. Or perhaps it's because I believe preventing it from happening is better than curing, after all, that's part of the reason we tried to veil our nature as a vampire with our gift, no? If only there's a way to hid it further in broad daylight."

Zin nodded once more. "I've been forcing others to learn the proper steps to the record keeping process, and levying some minor threats to motivate them to actually do it." For a moment she considered explaining the nature of the threats, but she figured that a threat to not take the blood her coworkers freely offered, a threat to her own wellbeing rather than theirs, would require more explanation than it was worth so she moved on without giving any details.

"I suppose you're right about the reason we hide our identities, but I can't really look at injuries the same way. I can't prevent them by harming others, it's just... not in my nature. The idea of killing someone, even if it's to save another, sickens me. Perhaps I'm overly compassionate." Zin sighed. "I'm somewhat regretting joining the Queen's Blades, truth be told. I feel I may have been naive to think I could truly help being as I am. I thought I could just help with diplomatic matters, talking to people, but it looks like killing people is the main part of the job description." She fell silent then, worry and fear plainly evident on her face.

"Violence is crude," Laenaia huffed. "No offense, but it's an important part of my life that I think it's a bit too naive to join an Organization that has blades on its name and not expect violence to be part of the job. But, haven't you heard? The sprite, Draza wasn't it?, Talked her opponent down, so it's probably just our bad luck to meet with the less talkable people."

"I'm not going to presume that I know what Queens are thinking," Laenaia said. "But, do you think it's possible that the missions we'd be send to after this would be more suited for our strength rather than general mobilization to all of the Blades to a location? The latter would point to a battle though."

Zin shrugged uncomfortably. "Blades can be used for things other than violence. Cutting food, opening letters and packages, making other useful tools, so on and so forth." She sighed. "I do hope that there will be jobs in which we can use our personal strengths, and perhaps avoid our weaknesses. Perhaps there will be need for ambassadors to other nations to recruit their help in this fight, or maybe..." Zin trailed off, deciding against bringing up her skills in breaking into places and picking locks. "Who knows? I would like to think that the incident at Arian was a very much out of the ordinary thing and that our missions from here on out will be less messy, but it's hard to say. The upcoming ball should be quite lacking in violence, at least. I look forward to experiencing such festivities again."

Laenaia shared Zin's enthusiasm, "There would be people to talk to, but otherwise, I do hope we can attend without worrying about the sun. I hope my dress hasn't gotten too small, it has been awhile since I last wore them. If needed, can I go to your shop to make one?" Laenaia said before realizing her mistake and covered her mouth with a hand. "Ah..."

"Well, I..." Zin paused, staring suspiciously at the other woman. "How did you know what my store deals in? Or you know something of it, at least. I never mentioned that we deal in textiles, and you seem to be under the mistaken impression that we make clothing as well. Have you been stalking me or something?"

"I..." Laenaia started, eyes cast downward. "I apologize...I might have...asked.. around about you and your store, although I might have heard wrong. It was childish of me, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I was..um, looking around."

"Looking around, hmm? Your hesitation makes it sound a less than reputable activity." Zin shook her head. "Anyway, the store just deals in cloth of all types. You could buy some there certainly, but you'd have to find a seamstress yourself."

"Again, I am sorry," Laenaia muttered. "I'll be sure to visit before the ball regardless, the seamstress shouldn't be too hard....I hope." Laenaia trailed and hesitantly looked at Zin. 

Zin was feeling slightly creeped out by Laenaia apparently doing research on her, but they might be on missions together in the future so it would not be a great idea to express that and make things unpleasant between them. Instead she nodded and rose from her chair. "If you feel the need for a new dress, then I suppose it would be alright. There are a couple seamstress shops near ours that do good work, so it won't be hard at all. For now though, I need to get back to work." She hesitated for a moment before deciding on giving a parting courtesy rather than walking away then. "It was nice talking to you." With that Zin pulled up her hood and headed out of the library.

Laenaia gave Zin a nod and returned her farewell. Once the other vampire left her sight, Laenaia slumped on her chair and used a hand to cradle her head as her eyes shifted back to green. "That could've gone better," she muttered quietly. "I hope she's not going to be too defensive after this."

Her eyes moved to the unfinished book that she took earlier. Sighing, Laenaia decided to take her minds away from her current concern and returned to reading.