The problem with a captive audience, Lily reasoned, was that you could not necessarily guarantee their interest.

Waiting for news to arrive from the council regarding their next objective was not particularly riveting, and the near desolate Citadel itself held little in the way of entertainment. 

In a flight of fancy, as she waited for news to come from the Council on their next objective, the shapeshifter had begun trying on the outfits she had bought at the stores on Earth, making use of a tall mirror she had pilfered from one of the other abandoned rooms in the fortress to admire herself. It didn’t take long for the silent task to become monotonous. She had tried on all the clothes in the stores, and even if she was free to alter her features and see how she could change to fit the ensemble with relative freedom in her own room, it was nothing she had not done before.

It was convenient that there was one she could show the clothing off to nearby. 

Fenn had taken to sitting at the end of the hallway, his girth almost making him seem boxed into the tunnel. He was just far enough that he would not block the doors of the nearby rooms, but anyone walking into the hallway had to contend with the large demon’s intense stare until they left or sidled into one of the adjacent rooms.

She roped the dog into being playing audience to her little fashion show. She would walk out of the room, leaving enough of an opening to the room that the clothing and shopping bags strewn around the chamber were easily visible, do a little twirl and talk about the clothes, how she had found them and what she liked about them. Idle chatter filled the space between her room and the hallway.

“This one actually came in three different colors. I couldn’t decide which one I preferred, so I bought all of them. Give me a moment and I’ll show you.”

The dog had made to protest, irritation clear as day, but Lily simply ignored him, Rather, his aversion encouraged her. It made the little exercise infinitely more enjoyable. Soon enough, the demon had little choice but to glare at her sourly, playing along with the occasional grunt and pithy remark to the few questions she threw his way.

The creak of hinges, a rustle of shifting cloth, an exchange of words. Growing apathy in the large demon’s responses.

“I feel like something was lost when humans took to sewing with machines. This one has quite a distinctive flair to it, though. Feels very smooth too. Want to touch?”

A grunt, too close to a snore for comfort. She glanced at the hound to see its eyes closed, ears splayed back against its head.

Lily’s lip curled down. “You could at least pretend to be interested.”

The dog opened a single eye, lazily rolling it down to regard her annoyed expression. "I fail to see the point, Imp. They offer no protection, you have no need to conceal weaponry, and your shapeshifting does quick work of most of it."

"It's not about practicality, you brute,” she said with a mock, haughty voice. “Unlike some of us, I have an eye for the finer things in life."

Fenn tilted his head, one ear tilting upwards, and gave her the kind of dubious stare only a dog could pull off properly.

“Headlong is the hound in its stubborn indifference and stubborn is the hound in its headlong ignorance!” a reedy, giggling voice interrupted them, and Lily glanced down between them to see the face of a Watcher staring at them from the floor. “Fortunately, such thick headedness can prove useful.”

A large fist suddenly obscured her vision of the Watcher, and the hallway shook under the force of Fenn’s blow.

Silence returned, only to be broken by the thin laughter coming from the wall to her side. The Watcher emerged, a sneer visible on her features even through her mouthless face, and regarded the demoness. 

“I set before you a quest befitting of your… talents,” the Watcher asked through a malicious chuckle, as though she had just told a joke only she understood, but in her next words, the thing’s tone sobered. “You have been called to the World Tree. Do not tarry.” Its message delivered, the Watcher disappeared into the wall once more.

Lily frowned. “Is that the Watcher that found us on Earth?”

“Aye,” Fenn growled.

“I think she’s taken a liking to you.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the dismay in the dog’s expression.

[hr]

As they had been told, Panoptos awaited them at the World Tree. Unlike last time, where only she and Fenn had been chosen for their mission, a few other Council ‘recruits’ were assembling before the Watcher. Lily fell into place with a curious glance at the mechanical being sharing the stage with them, while Fenn settled behind her, silently towering over the others.

Once they were all gathered, Panoptos began his briefing. He explained the next seal had been found in a separate realm, and that the stranger among them was to be their guide.

She did not miss the dimming of the being’s eyes, though even as a shapeshifter she had trouble placing the emotions of a mechanical visage. Resentment, perhaps, if such beings could feel such a thing. Or perhaps it was just bored and resting what passed for eyes among its kind.

[i]But wouldn’t it be a treat if the thing was bound against its will and decided to make our jobs harder out of spite?[/i]

Perhaps the most interesting idea was that the Seal itself was not on Earth. That particular detail surprised her. She had expected the seals heralding the End War to take place in the Third Realm to also be located within it. That was, unless this new creature heralded from some place on Earth hidden from human eyes.

She paused in her musings as Panoptos finished his explanation, pausing to field their questions. It seemed the lead Watcher would be joining them to set up the transferral of the Seal to another, undisclosed location.

[i]A better solution than simply stationing us as guards[/i], she mused. Which was not to say the location of a seal could not be used to bait their opponents, particularly once it was moved. If others happened upon information placing the Seal in its current location, it gave them a chance to set up a trap once it was moved. 

[i]Then again, that is only if the information placed in a young man’s head by an eldritch abomination from the Abyss can be trusted.[/i] Not that she was particularly inclined to call attention to that.

“Fenn?” she prompted, glancing behind her.

The dog looked down and shrugged ponderously, staying silent.

Lily bristled inwardly at that. It reminded her of the aloof reluctance he had displayed in the roofs of Vigrid. If the Chained Hound thought she had bargained solely for his muscle, she would need to clear that misconception. Away from prying eyes, preferably. Nevertheless, she had a question of her own.

"Why do you need protection from [i]us[/i]?” she asked the Watcher with an almost mocking smirk. “You've shown yourself plenty capable of defending yourselves. Or, should I say, incapable of being harmed."