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“You didn''t tell me that we were getting an actual Olympian child as part of our reinforcements.” With those accusing words, Charmeine stood behind Manakel in the cabin he had set up on a private island hidden away within the same pocket universe as Crossroads Academy, but masked against their detection. She was holding a computer pad that she had only barely glanced at before starting to voice her annoyance. “I didn''t even know those two had any living children. Didn’t the only one that made it all the way to birth die a long while back or something?”
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Without turning away from the table where he was eating his lunch, Manakel gave a soft snort. “Kushiel only wishes she did. And you did not read the report thoroughly enough. The offspring is a Mendacia, a Lie. Puriel arranged for her to be sent here as a moment of nepotism. He believes she may accomplish something of value and redeem herself of the Mendacia stench if she acts under my supervision.” From the tone of his voice, it was clear just how much the man doubted that possibility. He said it the same way someone might mention that their friend believed a small dog could be taught to perform calculus or pilot a spaceship. With the added bit of annoyance that came from the realization that the aforementioned friend expected him to do the teaching.
“A Mendacia?” Grimacing, Charmeine looked down at the report once more before giving a low whistle as she found the spot in question. “No wonder Old Koosh let everyone think the girl died. Surprised she didn’t smother the kid in her sleep to spare herself that sort of shame.”
“First,” Manakel replied flatly after taking a silent moment to savor his steak, “please don’t let her or any of her scattered spies hear you call her that. I’m operating with few enough resources as it is, and having you removed to be placed on some remote garbage detail would absolutely be within both her means and her pettiness. And second, I believe the only thing that saved that girl’s life was Kushiel’s belief that she might be able to cure the affliction and gain the accolades of accomplishing such a remarkable feat.”
Finally tucking the computer pad away, Charmeine made a noise of mixed amusement and disbelief deep in her throat. “I’d ask if you were kidding, but you don’t do that much anymore. And that sounds just like her. But as far as the whole remote garbage detail goes, I’m relatively certain if Old Koosh sent the word for me to be sent to the most backwards, primitive, trash heap of a planet, I’d just step through a portal and end up right back here again. It’s not like there’s a line of candidates kicking down the door to come babysit the humans.”
“You make my point for me, Charmeine,” Manakel noted. “Anyone who is sent to replace you, should Kushiel decide to make a nuisance of herself, will be exponentially less useful. Just look at the subject that prompted this very conversation.”
“Right, the Mendacia…” Frowning thoughtfully, Charmeine glanced away. “She’ll be here soon. I think I’ll put her through her paces, see just how bad this whole situation really is. But hey, who knows?
“Maybe we’ll actually find something for her to do.”
*********
“I''m not supposed to be here.” That firm pronouncement was accompanied by the heavy sound of a metal crate being shoved up on top of several others. The girl speaking, Kushiel and Puriel’s Lie, turned away from the storage shed where she had been stacking those crates for the past several minutes and faced Charmeine behind her. “Manakel said he wanted me to infiltrate that werewolf pack to see if they can be put to use, not stack supplies.” Her eyes narrowed fractionally. “Why did you tell me to stay here? Anyone could have done this work.”
If she was being honest, Charmeine would have said she had no idea why she told the Lie not to go. She was right, moving these supplies around was something anybody could''ve done, even one of their nameless (they weren’t, she just never bothered to learn any names) grunts that did the rest of the menial labor. They only had so many trained soldiers here, and even fewer actual Seosten. Well, sure, the Lie only counted as like a quarter of a Seosten, but still. Maybe she couldn''t casually jump in and out of assessing any target she wanted, but she could still be useful. Void, Manakel had been trying to make her useful by sending her to create a werewolf-Heretic. Not only would that give them an in with those mongrels, but having a full Heretic to call on would be even more useful than one more semi-trained Seosten.
So, there was every reason to send the girl off to do that. Hell, if she failed and ended up getting killed, it wouldn’t even be that big of a loss. No one would care about some Lie screwing up and dying, even if she was the daughter of Puriel and Kushiel. Most would never even know that. She wouldn’t be recognized as such. To almost everyone who ever even saw the report, it would be one more Lie who failed to rise above her birth defect and died. All the benefits and little risk. So why, exactly, did she stop her from doing it? That was a question she’d had for a while, ever since she had ordered the girl to stay here on the island with the frankly rather flimsy excuse to help clean up.
Yeah, she had absolutely no idea why she had told the girl to stay here. By any metric, it didn''t make any sense. Despite that, her first instinct had been to tell her to stay. And if Charmeine was accustomed to anything, it was paying attention to her instincts. To her own detriment, some would say. But she ignored those people. Or showed them why talking behind her back was a bad idea. Either way, she didn''t really care what they thought. What she cared about was why she had stopped this Lie from making herself useful and providing an actual resource.
Ignoring her own uncertainty about that, and absolutely not allowing the girl to see it, Charmeine turned and walked away from the shed. “Maybe I''m not convinced that you’re ready for that sort of job yet. I''m the one who has to clean up after you if something goes wrong.” With that, she continued walking down toward the beach, expecting the girl to follow without needing to be told. That was what Lies did. They stayed quiet and followed orders, even the unspoken ones. They certainly didn’t question things or act like they were in any way equivalent to true Seosten.
And yet, when it came down to it, wasn''t that exactly what this Lie had just done? Every other one that Charmeine had ever interacted with or used had been almost silent, demure and essentially little more than a tool that occasionally spoke up when asked to. They didn’t have opinions, or at least they didn’t express them. They didn’t question orders, didn’t behave as though they knew better. They just did what they were told, period. But this one, this embarrassing child of two of the strongest Olympians, had questioned her. She had flat out asked why Charmeine told her to do something. That was completely absurd. Even if Manakel had told her one thing, Charmeine was still her superior in every way, her direct leader in this situation. Manakel wasn’t here. For all this Lie knew, the orders had changed. It wasn’t as though she would have been consulted on that fact. No, she shouldn''t have questioned Charmeine’s orders at all. It should have made the woman angry, not introspective. What was wrong with her? This girl, this Lie, had actually questioned her, had literally raised her gaze to look directly at her instead of at the ground. She had spoken up as though she had the right to get answers from her. Charmeine’s reaction should''ve been to put her on the ground and remind her of her place. Instead, she’d made up some excuse that even she didn’t believe and was walking out to the beach with the girl behind her. Where was she going? What was she even doing right now? Manakel wasn''t going to be happy about any of this. Especially if he came back and saw that the Lie still wasn''t doing her job. That was going to turn into a whole thing. She should just tell her that it was time to go and drop the Lie off the way she was supposed to in the first place. But she didn''t. Instead, Charmeine moved to an open spot of the beach and turned around to face her, speaking in a low, but clear voice. “Come show me what you can do.”
The Lie blinked those large, expressive eyes, looking at her uncertainly. That long, light brown hair fluttered a little in the breeze coming off the pocket dimension’s ocean. For several long seconds, she held that stare before dropping her gaze to the sand where most Lies would have kept it the entire time. “I''m sorry, I don''t understand what you mean.”
The reasoning had come to Charmeine by then. “If I''m going to make any use out of you, I need to know what you’re capable of. We''re working with very few resources here. I can''t just send you off if you''re going to get caught the second you''re out of my sight. Lies can’t be trusted to stay silent if the enemy catches you. I want to know if you''ve got even the slightest ability to fight back or if you''re just a weak and pathetic liability who is going to force me to leave my own important duties to come deal with you when one of those humans locks you up.”
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Good, yes, that sounded right. It must''ve been what her subconscious had been trying to tell her this whole time. Charmeine knew she was right to trust her instincts, even when she didn''t understand what they were going on about. Testing this Lie to see how capable she was, even if the report said she had combat training, was the right way to go. She had to see for herself.
For a moment, the Lie didn''t move at all. She just stood there completely motionless, gaze flicking between the sand and the woman in front of her as though she wasn''t certain what to do or where to look. It took another few seconds for her to even speak up. “If I have made some--”
“Shut up,” Charmeine interrupted. “I didn''t tell you to babble at me. I told you to show me what you can do. Look, you are excused from all the rules about raising your hand against a superior. Not that you’ll actually hit me, I promise. Just try. And if I feel like you’re not actually doing your best, I will make sure you regret it.” Her voice grew more firm throughout that as she became more confident in her own explanation. “I want to know what you can do if--when things go wrong. Your file said you know how to fight, that you’re actually somewhat capable. So stop staring at the ground, look up, and show me that file wasn’t lying and that you’re not a complete waste of my time.”
It took another long, boring moment for the Lie to gather herself, but she finally seemed to come to a decision and straightened. Her body shifted into a clearly trained defensive posture as she took a couple steps forward, not quite within striking range, but close enough to dart in quickly. With her hands raised in front of herself, she slowly paced sideways, eyes moving from Charmeine’s feet to her head slowly, taking in every inch of her questioningly. She circled the woman once, twice, and was partway through a third time when she abruptly darted in and snapped a quick punch toward her lower left side with her right hand, while her left moved up to block the anticipated retaliation strike from the woman''s own arm. Her footwork was quick, shuffle-stepping sideways and twisting to put her body out of easy counter-reach.
Charmeine, of course, was far too quick for that. But she recognized the skill in the move even as she calmly pivoted away from it and caught the girl’s wrist with two fingers. A grunt and shove sent the Lie to the ground. She let her roll and then spoke sharply. “Again.”
So, the Lie came at her again. And again, she was sent flying into the sand. Charmeine ordered her up to keep trying. Which continued on for most of the next hour. Over and over, the Lie came at her. Soon, Charmeine didn’t even have to order her to do so, and the hesitation fell away. The Lie stopped thinking about how dangerous this was, how much trouble she would be in with almost any other Seosten, and focused on trying as hard as she could to actually hit her target. There was even some real skill there. Sure, she wasn''t good enough to actually take Charmeine, or even come close. But she wasn''t completely useless. There was potential. Actual, real potential. Which was such a strange thing to think about when it came to a Lie. They were supposed to be completely interchangeable. But this one was different, somehow. It had to be her parents. Even as a Lie, some of what her parents were had made it in. That was the only possible answer. Charmeine was, despite herself, genuinely impressed by that.
“Pathetic,” she finally snapped at the end of that demonstration, as the Lie fell to the sand once again. There was no way she would actually tell the girl anything about being impressed. “I’m supposed to send you out into this world like that? No.” Her head shook. “We’ll have to have some real training before I trust you to do anything more involved than pouring me a glass of wine.”
The Lie blinked several times from where she lay on the ground with waves from the ocean lapping up right next to her head. “I don''t understand.”
“Of course you don’t,” Charmeine retorted. “It’s not your place to understand. It’s your place to do what you’re told. And I''m not convinced that you can do the job we need you to. So you''re not going anywhere without me until I am. You''re going to stay right at my side while I train you to be something vaguely useful. So get up, we’re training right now.
“We’ll start with some exercise. You look like you’ll snap in half under a stiff breeze.”
********
Three Months Later
Crouched on a thick tree branch somewhere in the southern part of Mexico, Charmeine squinted through the foliage at the large Akheilosan man who was standing a couple hundred feet away, supervising as a dozen smaller figures unloaded weapons from the truck that was parked there. Fahsteth was a mercenary, one they occasionally hired to do some work for them. Including when he had recently put the Crossroads teacher, Tangle, in the hospital before she could expose them to Gaia Sinclaire. He wasn’t trustworthy, not in the least. But he was capable, a solid bit of muscle to have around now and then.
He was even working for a different Seosten cell right now, delivering some guns to a small gang who would be put to use. But Charmeine didn’t care about that. Her focus was entirely on seeing what happened over the next few seconds. If that girl didn’t do something soon, Charmeine was going to--
Wait, there. Just as one of the grunts picked up another bag of guns from the back of the human truck and jumped down to carry it over to the others, Charmeine caught a glimpse of movement. It came from the underside of the truck, where a masked figure silently dropped down and rolled out directly behind Fahsteth while he was barking orders at his underlings. It was the Lie she had taken the time to train over these past few months. The masked Lie rose, hand extending before her hand touched the back of his leg.
Instantly, Fahsteth spun around, a heavy pistol appearing in his hand as he pointed it at the figure that had just touched him. But before he could pull the trigger, Charmeine was there. She activated a teleportation spell that linked her to the Lie, appearing directly beside her just in time to smack the gun out of the way and held her other hand up in front of the man’s face. “Stop.”
“What th--” Seeing her there, Fahsteth growled low. “I told you I don’t want to be part of your fucking games.”
“It’s not a game, it’s training,” Charmeine informed him flatly. “And she beat you. She bypassed all your magical defenses and sensors, even your hound.” She nodded toward the enormous Amarok wolf that lounged on the far side of the dirt parking lot where the truck was being unloaded. “She got close enough to touch you. If she wanted to possess you, that would have been it.”
Fahsteth said something else, but honestly, she wasn’t listening. She hadn’t even been talking to him. He was utterly irrelevant. Her words had been meant for the Lie who was still laying on the ground. Charmeine turned her back to the complaining man and extended a hand that way.
The Lie looked uncertain for a moment, before very slowly accepting the offered hand. Only then, as she pulled the girl up, did Charmeine realize the reason for the hesitation. Most Seosten didn’t let Lies touch them like that. It was too dangerous. Sure, they’d been training for months now and she touched the girl all the time then. But to do so like this, offering a hand to pull her up in such a casual way? Why did she do that?
Because this girl wasn’t just a Lie. She was more than that, better than that. Charmeine was certain of it by now. Sure, she had a long way to go to be anywhere near good enough. But the potential was absolutely there. And Charmeine was going to bring it out, no matter what it took. Kushiel was an idiot if she couldn’t see what her daughter was capable of.
So, she pulled the girl to her feet, then released her hand. “Come on then, I promised you a good meal if you pulled that off. You like fish, right?” Still ignoring Fahsteth’s complaints, she started walking away, expecting the girl to follow. “You know, someday your habit of being on the ground all the time is going to get you in trouble.”
“I do fall a lot,” the girl agreed quietly. “I am sorry for that.” She ignored the fact that she was usually falling because Charmeine had thrown her to the ground during training.
“Hey!” Fahsteth shouted to get Charmeine’s attention. “We could use some help here. Why don’t you send your Lie over here to do some work? Promise we’ll send her back in one piece.” His voice and the expression on his face made it clear that what he really wanted was to put the girl to work to pay her back for making him look bad by sneaking up on him.
“Don’t call her that,” Charmeine snapped, finally turning back to squint at him. The idea of this mercenary creature using that word to refer to the girl she had taken under her wing… it made her want to put a knife between his eyes. It was a disgusting, filthy word coming from someone who wasn’t even a Seosten. It was like he saw himself as better than that girl, and that was just… wrong.
“Why?” Fahsteth retorted. “That’s what they’re all called, isn’t it? They don’t even have names.”
Charmeine’s eyes narrowed. “This one does. Her name is…” She paused. This was absurd, of course the Lie didn’t have a name. And yet, she absolutely would not stand for someone like Fahsteth calling her a Lie. There had to be something that… wait. She fell down. They were just talking about how often she fell. Fall. That wasn’t a name. Still, the humans had names for the various seasons, like Summer or Spring. One of them was Fall. But they had another name for that too, a name they’d taken from Autumna, the old Seosten word for it.
“Autumn,” Charmeine finally finished. “Her name is Autumn. And she is my apprentice. Touch her, and I’ll scatter the pieces of your body across so many planets it’ll take a universal collapse to bring them back together.”