The building Ambassador Reika led Taka's party into was huge. It looked more like a mansion than a municipal building from the outside, but as soon as Taka stepped through the front doors, he was greeted by an air of productivity. The foyer felt reminiscent of the foyer of a large office building from his old world, and most of the creatures he could spot right away were beastkin, but not lizard folk; Reika seemed to be the only more traditionally humanoid creature, and the only one with horns.

  A leopard man at the front desk greeted them with a smile, sliding across a little stack of wooden cards with a jewel embedded within each across toward them. Maeve approached the desk and said a quiet thanks to the leopard man as she stashed the cards in her bag and continued to follow Reika deeper into the building. Taka cut off his connection with Syla and used his TELEPATHY skill to open a connection with Maeve.

  What are those? Taka asked as he continued along with the rest of his group through a series of winding hallways.

  Identification cards, issued with spirit magic, Maeve replied. The Spirit Kingdom has a system to ensure that they can't be duplicated or faked, and these are real, so I'm not sure how the Ambassador got them made so quickly... for anyone staying in the inner city, you need one of these cards to prove you've been approved--

  I understand, Taka replied, thank you.

  So it's just an ID, or a visa for non-permanent residents, interesting... Taka mulled over the concept of magical serial numbers, but it didn't make sense with his current understanding of magic. Maybe spirit magic has other unique properties...

  Ambassador Reika stopped before a set of double doors that stood out from the various other rooms they had passed on their short walk. She turned back to all of them, opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, but then her jaw snapped shut as her eyes darted to the hallway they had just walked down. Reika flung the door open and ushered Taka's party inside, then slammed the door shut as soon as Taka's golem had stepped through.

  "Reika?" Zirko questioned, concern heavy in his voice.

  The Ambassador lifted her hand up to the door as Taka felt mana filling the cracks between its hinges and the wall. Taka looked around the rest of the room, which looked strangely similar to Vanz'goran's study, except this room had a door, and was a bit less colorful. The whole building had a sort of modern minimalist drab style that gave it the vibe of a place for serious work. There was a desk at the head of the room with a floor to ceiling window behind the large chair that was clearly the Ambassadors, then two chairs that looked oddly comfortable compared to the rest of the furnishings on the other side of the desk, a bookshelf on the right side of the room, and a small coffee table with 3 more chairs on the left.

  Maeve and Syla both looked to Zirko, who nodded toward the two nicer chairs in response, prompting them to both take a seat. Taka cut off his TELEPATHY with the Ambassador and opened a link to Zirko.

  Should we be worried? Taka asked.

  The lizard man let out a small chuckle, as long as we are in Modonia, we should be worried. But if it is truly unsafe here, Reika will let us know.

  Taka noted that Zirko didn't refer to her as the Ambassador, which could mean a number of things, or possibly, nothing at all. Zirko stood toward the edge of the room and leaned against the book shelf, but Taka continued to watch Ambassador Reika closely.

  The mana protecting the door hadn't changed, but Taka could feel the Ambassador's Magia extending beyond the room into the hallway, and he didn't have the faintest clue what she was doing. It didn't feel like elemental magic, so he had to assume it was some sort of ancient magic that let the Ambassador scan her surroundings? Or is it a more active spell than scanning... she's at least as strong as Deon, but I can't tell if she's a combatant, I need to see if--

  Taka stopped himself mid-thought. When did I start thinking like this? He wasn't bothered by the change, more surprised by how natural it felt to think in such a high stakes, life or death way. But then again, that was his life now, so maybe it was a good thing.

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  Ambassador Reika turned away from the door and went behind her desk, almost collapsing into her seat. Silence hung heavy in the room as Taka and his party waited with baited breath.

  "Fen, Len, come out," Reika called out.

  The room was still for a moment, before a poof and two beastkin beaver men appeared at the coffee table as if they had been sitting there the entire time.

  "It's about time, boss," the smaller one said, likely about 5 feet tall, with a slightly squeaky, nasally tone.

  "Took a lot of mana," the larger one, who seemed to be about a head taller than his partner, tacked on.

  "My apologies," Ambassador Reika said with little meaning, "but someone was trying to listen in."

  Both beaver men tensed up.

  "Len?" The smaller one asked.

  "Didn't feel it," the larger of the two, Len, replied.

  "You didn't sense it, Fen?" Reika asked, her tone completely serious.

  The stout beaver man shook his head vigorously back and forth; Ambassador Reika turned toward Taka.

  "And you, mage?" Ambassador Reika asked aloud.

  Taka realized his TELEPATHY was no longer connecting to her, so she had to ask out loud, likely assuming that he'd be able to hear through one of his compatriots' ears.

  Taka maneuvered the golem to make it shake its head. Reika muttered profanities under her breath as she looked to the ceiling.

  "Slight change of plans," Reika said, her previously formal idiolect peeling off like dead skin. "We need to keep the circle small. For now, just everyone here in this room, and Jambo."

  Reika saw the confused looks on her guests faces at the mention of the new name.

  "Jambo is my personal assistant, you'll meet him soon," Ambassador Reika explained. "But for now, no one else. We didn't have a mole in the office as of last week, but I wouldn't put it past them to infiltrate with a changeling. They were scouting our rooms, but I couldn't see where the source of the Magia was, but it had to be inside..."

  The Ambassador's voice trailed off as her eyes glossed over, as if she were going inside her own head.

  "Ambassador?" Fen said gently.

  Reika snapped back to awareness, "My apologies, there's a lot to be done, but to introduce you all--"

  With a sweeping gesture of her arm, Reika pointed around the room with the well-developed eloquence of a seasoned politician.

  "This is Fen and Len, they're the investigators I told you about, and this is Mistress Rei Xesha, niece of Lord Jukartha. And her attendant Lady Sibil, her body guard, Hesk, and his autonomous golem."

  Maeve, to her credit, introduced herself

  In an instant, Taka cut off the connection with Maeve and used his TELEPATHY skill to open a link to Reika.

  It's about time, the Ambassador sent before Taka could even message her.

  Can we not trust them? Taka asked Reika in a panic.

  Before she could respond, Zirko pinged Taka: Well?!

  Not yet, I believe they're both still clean, but I need some more time, Reika sent. For now, work with them on the above water investigation. And tell Zirko.

  Taka relayed the information to Zirko as Fen and Len seemed to get better acquainted with Maeve, Syla sitting quietly beside her.

  "Fen and Len will catch you up on their findings so far tomorrow morning," Reika said. "You should get settled into your rooms today, and we need to sort out the golem's voice box."

  Fen jumped up in glee while Len remained neutral.

  "I told you, Fen, you are barred from the Outpost Lab unless you receive explicit permission from Dr. Quinoth."

  Fen scoffed back, "he's barely a real doctor, and has a stick up his ass too--"

  "--if it was your lab, you wouldn't like finding it wrecked, either."

  The voice box? Taka sent to Reika.

  It had only been a few minutes, but Taka couldn't believe it had slipped his mind. He needed to pursue that ASAP.

  "Hesk, Len can lead you there," Ambassador Reika said, "I can watch over the Mistress while you handle this errand, yes?"

  Zirko nodded in response. Whatever the history between Zirko and Reika might have been, he trusted her enough to protect Syla, which meant Taka could trust her, too. For now.

  "But--" Maeve began.

  "It's alright," Zirko said to cut her off. "You'll be safe with the Ambassador, we'll reconvene at our rooms, Mistress?"

  Maeve bit her lip, but nodded an affirmation. Syla sat on the chair with a pleasant expression across her face, but Taka could sense the frustration of not being asked to come along sitting right beneath the surface.

  Better to do this now, Sir Filo, Reika sent to Taka. The lab is still secure as of today.

  Len stretched then made his way to the door, trailed by Zirko. The lizard man looked back to Taka.

  Let's get you a voice, Zirko sent.