Chapter 793

Kat managed to wonder down a few streets and find a rather nice park with a fake river running through it. Apparently it wasn’t enough to have a giant greenhouse, Jara’s family also felt the need to brighten up the surrounding districts as well. In the late afternoon the park was still quite busy. Children were playing, a few couples seemed to be laying on picnic blankets. They spotted a gardener trimming the grass with a metal rod that spat out sharpened blades of air.

That was of particular interest as the first and only evidence of magic outside of the fountain. Sure there were magical side effects such as the large number of healthy crops, the lack of dead grass, the giant glass greenhouse. Yet they hadn’t seen anything magical being performed in the moment. Even if it was just a glorified lawn mower.

Eventually Kat managed to snag a spot under a tree. It was only because the previous occupants were leaving just as Kat walked past, giving her space to claim it before anyone else noticed the available area. Kat settled down against the and let Lily fall to her lap. It was barely a moment later when Lily decided that wasn’t good enough and expanded to her humanoid form and sat her hole body down in Kat’s lap. “Where do you want to start Lily?”

“We already started on the accommodation issue. We should probably just stick to that before we go over anything else...” offered Lily.

“Yeah perhaps... but we didn’t exactly learn much about Zuhra. We can sort that out and our plan going forward in basically no time,” returned Kat.

Lily rolled her eyes. [I don’t really think there’s much discussion to be had regarding where we’re staying either but if that’s what Kat wants to talk about...] Lily’s thoughts weren’t necessarily intended to be broadcast at the moment, and recognising that fact Kat decided to ignore them until she said, “Sure we can go over what we know,”

“The main point is that we need to visit the orphanage, perhaps find some of her old friends. I’m not entirely sure how to approach that though. Sure we can just walk up... but we’re both pretty distinctive. I’d have recommended you do it if I had seen a single race that wasn’t human... but it might just be them. Makes it hard to pretend everything is normal. Probably. Do you have any thoughts about it?”

.....

Lily shrugged as she got more comfortable in Kat’s lap. Mulling over the question in her mind. “Hmm... I guess I see what you mean... but it’s not like we need to keep this super secret or hush-hush. If we don’t mention Apep at all, and at worst have to show off Jara’s papers. I mean... how widespread is the knowledge of demons? Or... how weird do we look to people? We’re not getting too many glances but I don’t know what others are assuming really.”

“Hmm...” mumbled Kat. *Lily brings up a good point. In a world of magic it’s actually somewhat hard to judge how strange we look or how many people know what exactly I am. Even if we’ve only seen humans around they might be more willing to accept the strange... or just have a different version of what strange is. Makes me wonder what they’d think of a car or a train.*

[You do know I can hear you right?] Lily’s thoughts paused. [Oh...] Understanding washed over her as Kat nodded. “Yup, I didn’t bother masking my thoughts because I heard yours earlier. I don’t really mind if you hear them or not and until you can shield your own... I’m trying not to go about shielding my own too often. I mean, it happens, obviously but I am trying to balance not sending you all my random thoughts with wanting this to be an equal exchange,”

“Kat...” whispered Lily and she lightly kissed her girlfriend on the nose, “you don’t have to worry about that at all. This was something I wanted and I’m not going to complain if I don’t have full control over it. Plus... it probably is for the best I’m not hearing ALL your thoughts. Your mind can operate much faster than my own some times and it can be hard to follow those. Still... you’re letting me get sidetracked. How are we approaching the orphanage?”

“Well... we can either start with whatever orphanage director there is,” said Kat, “or alternatively we can head over and try to find some of the kids or teens that live there and ask about her from them first. I imagine we’ll either have two very similar stories or two completely different ones,”

“You think it’s likely they’ll know who she is?” asked Lily.

Kat nodded, “Yup I can guarantee it. It depends on the age range but if it’s mostly younger kids they’ll all know her, but probably not that well. We can use that to get an honest sense of what she’s like with kids though, and maybe that’s worth it by itself. Furthermore, if it’s mostly younger kids the older ones are bound to know her. They might not be willing to say anything bad about her, but we can certainly confirm if she had a fiancé or not, and maybe even what happened to him.

“I mean, if it was even slightly a big deal they’ll have tried, and probably succeeded, in prying the information out of her. The only way it won’t be huge news is if she kept it super quiet and then left afterwards... but I think that’s highly unlikely. I mean, she’d have to have told the person in charge when she was leaving, and the other kids would notice that.

“A lot of that’s true even if the orphanage is mostly older kids. If it is though... the younger kids might not know everyone but the older ones should... I think. I imagine it would be more like a school where you know most people in your grade and know about the big things. Once again, getting married is big, and having your fiancé die is even bigger. I just think it’d be somewhat common knowledge,”

“That should be fine,” said Lily. “We can get a nice general feeling from the kids, maybe some details, and then head over to the person in charge. How do you think we should deal with the matron or... huh... I know Gramps ran the orphanage but I don’t know what the male form of matron is,”

“Neither do I,” admitted Kat easily. “As for how we deal with them... I’m not sure. I mean I have plenty of experience with Gramps but I don’t really know how he’d react to a quasi-official enquiry. He has a great memory and he’s been around for a while. I think it’s likely he knows all the government people that he could possibly meet. What he’d do when he didn’t recognise us... I’m not sure...

“He certainly wouldn’t share private information... but rumours and general information we could get from asking anyone at the orphanage may or may not be fair game. As I said I just don’t know how he’d treat that sort of enquiry. Personally... I think we just try and get what we can unless she’s clearly hiding something. I mean... we’re not here to find out if Zuhra is a good person to marry, just if Apep has a chance or not...”

Lily frowned at that, “I feel like we should at least make sure they’ll get along...”

Kat shrugged, “I’m not opposed to sharing what we know, or making recommendations but I don’t really know anything about romance. I didn’t read romance novels, I didn’t watch romance movies. I think the limit to my involvement in romance was reading Holes back in school.”

“Kat... Holes isn’t a romance story...” retorted Lily.

“I know that’s kind of my point,” responded Kat.

Lily let out a long sigh, “I... hmm... I was going to say I can help in that area... but it’s not like I really sought out standard romance stories. I’m not entirely sure how explicable my experience is. I mean I got the girl in a much more secure way than any sort of ceremony. We won’t have any potentially relationship ending misconceptions because we can hear each other’s thoughts and emotions.

“Communication is perhaps the biggest deal, and if Zuhra doesn’t know how to talk about her issues, which she clearly has, and just... throws herself into work instead it probably won’t work out between them. Or if Apep is forever too nervous to address things properly. Considering he SUMMONED A DEMON instead of just talking to her, or even Jara and risking her finding out... honestly that might be the biggest black mark against this idea...”

Kat pursed her lips for a few moments before saying, “That... that’s a good point. Not one I necessarily like thinking on... but a good point. Hmm... I don’t think there’s much we can do. I mean, if Apep has a chance... I want to give him that chance you know? He clearly cares and he’s trying to do this as respectfully as possible,”

“Going behind her back is respectful?” asked Lily.

“No. Well... sort of. He’s trying to avoid involving her in Noble politics if he can,”

“Hmmm” murmured Lily non- committedly.