Work
Wind Wild Kirane, Sirius
Day 1, Morning
The office was spacious and pathologically white, lacking any identity beyond that of a corporate cogwheel – desk, chair, one more – for visitors. Just one. A token plant attempted to bring in some pretense for comfort but it was too small and too easily overlooked. The room was also well-lit by an army of fluorescent lights built into the ceiling. The grand window behind the desk should have let in enough sunlight to render the lights excessive, but excess was a key message the owner of the office didn’t want to overlook. Such lights served two purposes. They made jewelry sparkle – a thought that pleased one of the room’s current occupants; and they revealed any imperfections in the walls, furniture or flooring. There weren’t any. The room was immaculate. The employees – slaves really – had done an outstanding job this time - as any.
Torus Rism, the suited man that sat behind the desk, was a good businessman. He knew how to buy people at least as well as he knew how to buy horses. The tower suspected, maybe even better. His calm and smug demeanor certainly suggested more life experience than the barely-there wrinkles on his young forehead did. And certain documents supported it.
Yet, despite some accusations, for now Torus was a free man.
In Kirane’s book he wasn’t the worst of the worst. Her attire – utterly boring black pencil-skirt and white blouse – was a small tribute to their good relations. The fan, held laxly in her left hand was her only weapon – or so she’d like him to think. On his end, he had let her in without an appointment and
with Sirius Dylan in toe. Kirane wasn’t sure if her dark-haired senior had come to support her or keep an eye on her.
“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, Mister Rism.” She greeted without a smile, hoping that by the door Sirius was smiling in a less menacing fashion than usual. The man across the desk smiled and nodded.
“Any time, Miss Maoru. You always book an appointment in advance so I assumed that today was an emergency. Because of which I apologize that I didn’t make any preparations.”
Oh the show-off. ‘Pardon for the mess’, right?“It is quite important.” Kirane nodded herself and stood by the chair. She didn’t have the habit of sitting in enemy territory. And although Rism was by all accounts as harmless as they came (he didn’t even employ bodyguards, that’s how certain he was in his ability to manipulate and threaten people), he was not her friend. His financial support of the Tower had come at a different sort of price, and not too long ago either. Kirane wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate a man’s damaged ego. “I see that you are quite busy at the moment,” she glanced at the paperwork on the desk “so if you’ll allow me, I’ll get right to the point.”
“Be my guest.”
Kirane cleared her throat (even though she didn’t need to) and began, adding just a tinge of uncertainty to her words. “You see, I’m facing a problem. For the past couple of months, I have been experiencing a certain physical discomfort.” Eyeing him brought no reaction. He already knew. But how much did he know? “Which can be attributed to someone in my professional life. I imagine you’ve heard about that already?”
His lips twitched a little there. “I have indeed. I am very sorry to hear that you are experiencing said… discomfort.” The man was almost smiling. “I will do whatever I can to help you find out who it was.”
“I’d greatly appreciate that.” She smiled. “You see, you have connections and skills that would be valuable in this little quest of mine. To start with, would you mind telling me whom you heard this information from and where I could find them?”
The man opened his mouth to respond -- but the only thing that came out was a muffled -whomp- as the air escaped him. His eyes widened and his ears probably took a fraction of a moment to detect the sound of the window shattering behind him. And his body probably took another fraction of a moment to detect the fact that it was freefalling – judging by the fact that he didn’t start screaming until he was already out of sight.
Sirius also took a moment to react. He had blinked so he hadn’t seen when the young paladin had pointed her fan at the now empty chair. Well, the ‘now missing chair’. Sirius glanced at the door behind him but couldn’t hear anything but scrambling on the other side. Apparently, albeit willing to sell their bodies to Mr.Rism, his employees weren’t quite so willing to risk their lives for him. “I bet he’ll want to hire guards after this one.” Sirius spoke over a chuckle. Kirane didn’t respond; bent over the desk with a pen in hand, he assumed she was leaving a note. Something like “Apologies for the window”, perhaps?
The scream cut off and the silence stretched for a few seconds. Another shard of glass used the time to break off from the window with a loud crack – and then a peculiar sound approached the window at high speed. The unmistakable beat of wings – Sirius and Kirane both recognized it before it reached – and neither reacted.
It was a griffin, of course. A huge white-and-grey-feathered animal roughly the size of a big stallion (pun unintended) with claws that could easily slice through a man’s face. Of course, it wasn't doing anything as exciting right now – instead it was clutching an unconscious, mildly bloodied businessman in a way that its talons were definitely not designed for. Mr.Rism would have some scars to boast about after this, if he was into that kind of thing. Well, if he remembered, anyway.
Sirius greeted the beast with a small wave while Kirane’s only reaction was a rather sincere eye-twitch. Dropping the man on the floor, Cole reverted in his usual human visage – albeit a bit angrier-looking.
“May I point out that this was extremely irresponsible?”
“You may.” Kirane said calmly.
“You just risked a man’s life.” He pointed out as if she wasn’t aware. “For what?”
“Personal matters.” Was the only explanation she offered. The silence stretched while she was considering going through Mr.Rism’s documents.
Evidently annoyed, Cole took out the big guns. “Your mother would be very disappointed in you.”
Kirane’s retort was almost instant. “But not in you. You’re starting to sound like Ibuki.”
Sirius could see the griffin twitch. But he didn’t fall for it. “And that man by the door? Did you expect him to intervene? Because he doesn’t seem to care anymore than you do.”
He just wouldn’t let it go, would he? “Cole.” Irritation finally bled into her tone, just enough to colour it a pale shade of pink. “You’ve been following me for days. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice?” Was he questioning her ability to keep herself safe? Of course he was. “This man is one of the Tower’s benefactors. Why would I want to kill him? I was
counting on your to catch him. Sirius cannot be trusted to rush to save anyone – but one of my mother’s servants? Why, he could never allow himself to merely stand by.” She turned on her heel. “Send her my regards. And tell her to leave me alone.”
Just before they left, Sirius got the opportunity to approach the desk and read the note. It said “Please try to remember that man’s address and let me know if you hear anything new. I’m counting on you.” He grinned and hurried after her.
Cole didn’t follow, which was just as well because Sirius didn’t think his young subordinate would willingly talk about her strategy around him. The office was essentially deserted, as were the ones in the immediate vicinity of the unfortunate one. It was an easy and quick way to the elevator. “Going around and telling people that you’re sick? Are you sure that’s a wise idea?”
“Of course.” At least she sounded calm.
“Care to explain?”
She glanced at him for a moment and turned away again, calling the elevator. Of course she was sure it was a good idea. By revealing her weakness, she was sending a subtle invitation to her enemies. If the other Knights were anything to go by, her clients and enemies would reach either of two conclusions: a) she’s letting her emotions get the better of her or b) she’s at her most vulnerable. The ones who thought she was actually handling this very well would be a neglectable few. Thus the news spreading would make her curse a catalyst for what would eventually happen anyway. She dealt with a lot of vipers who were just lying in wait for a good opportunity and mere words or petty threats weren’t always enough to break the mask of their pretense. Now, a severely weakened enemy was a different story. “It lets me fish out future traitors.” She explained simply. The next part was more of a subject for discussion. “And based on who finds out next, we can tell which of our clients are connected to Rism. It’s information that will be valuable in the future. The Artisan department are quite amazing but they can only do so much; some people still use oral methods for transferring information.”
Sirius had to bite his lip to refrain from making a joke about “oral” and “transferring” and stay on track. “And some people are very good at tracking people’s movements. Say, the Masters and Mistresses of Sight? Can’t they basically spy on anyone they please?”
Kirane tuned mid-stride, forcing him to stop, her eyes boring into his. Even in the daylight their internal fire almost too painful to face openly, especially when she was angry. Or was it just his imagination? She was shorter than him but the danger that oozed from her aura was real. When she spoke her words were colder than any of his superiors’. After all, even in the Tower, most knights had hearts. He was really unsure about this one. “Mention her again and I’ll
really hurt you.”
His eyebrow twitched up.
Oh? More than usual? “And I don’t mean in the pleasant way.” She finished and turned, getting into the taxi that was waiting outside. Sirius really wanted to grin – she was almost too fun to be true. Did she really think he enjoyed what they did at night? Well, of course he enjoyed her body but her attitude was the furthest thing from tender one could imagine. But then again, she was so high-strung recently that she probably wouldn’t have let him touch her if she didn’t need to vent. He could relate.
“See you tonight.” He said, closing the door behind her with a smile. Unsure if she’d see him, he mouthed “good job” before heading towards his favorite Chinese.
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