I'm A Saber Knight! You're A Rune Tooth! [A-Rank Freeform ft. Seri]

Despite how much her life had seemed to calm down lately, Serilda was busier than ever. It had been over a year since she had taken over the Rune Knights, and in that time she and Mythal had made excellent headway into building the military force back up since the attack they’d suffered that had caused their leadership vacancy in the first place. The place was once again clean, whole, and organized. A lot of files were still either missing, destroyed, or in need of being properly refiled, but the bulk of the work was pretty much done at this point, leaving her able to relax and focus on other more important issues.

Ironically, it was actually her personal life that had been more hectic than her professional one, as of late. Mythal had recently proposed to her, and Serilda was still getting used to the feel of the ring on her finger. They were still at the beginning stages of planning the wedding, which they still hadn’t picked a date for. Add to that the recent knowledge of Mythal’s adoptive father still being alive after all these years and the very emotional reunion with him, plus the political drama and activity revolving around herself and Mythal both being named one of the four Gods of Ishgar… needless to say, things were hectic.

Currently, she was sitting at her desk reading through a report that had come in from the Engineering department, detailing the week’s progress they’d made on some of the recent upgrades and inventions they’d been working on. A tone sounded from her intercom to let her know someone from one of the main offices was reaching out to her. “Lady Sinclair?”

“Go ahead, Valorie,” Serilda told the woman without pulling her eyes away from the report.

“I have a young man here by the name of Imai Uchuuken. He’s requesting to speak with you, but he does not have an appointment. Normally I wouldn’t bother you with it, but he does appear to be a member of Sabertooth, so I thought it best to let you decide.”

She blinked and glanced at the intercom. “He’s with Sabertooth?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Did he say if something was going on?”

“No, he doesn’t seem to have a case of any kind. I’m thinking it’s a social visit.”

Huh, that was weird. Serilda wracked her brain, but while the name rang a slight bell, no face came to mind. Given that she was typically quite good with names, it was likely this was someone whose name she had heard a few times around the guildhall but hadn’t actually formally met back when she was a member of Sabertooth. She glanced at the time. It had been a while since she’d taken a break, Serilda supposed, and it never hurt to take efforts to maintain good relations with other guilds, particularly the one that gave her her start as a wizard. “Go ahead and send him up.”

“Will do.”

The call clicked off. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Victoria shift her position on the couch. The older woman had been reading a book on one of the many historical wars in Earthland’s recorded history, mostly minding her own business, but now she looked up at Serilda from across the room. “We’re getting company, I take it?” she asked.

“Guess so. They’re with my old guild I was a part of before I got hired here. Not sure I’ve ever met him, though. If it’s a social call, we’ll probably be talking for a while.” Putting the file away to read at a later time, Serilda glanced at the Seal. “Would you rather stay or go somewhere else? The chapel is usually free if you want someplace quiet to keep reading.” The relationship between the two women had come a long way since their first, somewhat horrific meeting. They had been on very rocky footing for quite some time, but despite everything Victoria had relinquished a modicum of subservience to Serilda far quicker and easier than the noblewoman had expected. There was a level of trust between them now that wasn’t entirely complete, but it was sufficient. Certainly more than there was between Mythal and Lux.

Victoria hummed in consideration, giving it some thought. “I think I’ll stay for now,” the old woman finally said, snapping the book shut and setting it aside. “I am interested in learning more about these guilds. Plus, I can always just leave if I get bored.”

Serilda snorted. “Well, just be nice,” she teased. “The last thing I need is my alma mater thinking I was disrespectful to one of their members.”

The Seal of Conquest rolled her eyes, but smirked.

By the time Imai reached the office, he would find himself in a rather sizable space. It was a large office with dark hardwood floors. Several bookshelves stretched along most of the walls containing thick leather bound books on Fioren law and history. One wall was lined with a number of large windows that allowed the natural light of the sun to flood the room. There was a door in the back that lead the way to a small private bathroom and closet, and in one of the front corners was a sitting area complete with a couple small sofas and a coffee table set on an area rug. The overall feel of the room was actually quite simple, despite the obvious high quality of the furniture -- nothing overly extravagant. The only big statement piece was a large purple and gold tapestry that hung on the wall behind her desk, bearing the image of the twisting dragon that was the symbol of the Sinclair noble house.

Serilda herself sat at the desk, clad in a white and dark blue tailored suit that was trimmed in gold with some of the hems. Her long white hair was pulled back in a bun on the top of her head. Aside from the engagement ring on her left hand, the only other jewelry she wore was a simple silver ring on her right hand that also bore the crest of her family and marked her as the heiress of the duchy. To her right, Victoria was retrieving a glass for herself from the small bar that held an assortment of drinks, both alcoholic and non. No huge display, but enough for entertaining guests of note that came to visit her at work. Near Serilda’s desk, a full sized wolf sat quietly on a large pillow, her thick black fur frosted with light speckles that make her coat look like a starry night sky. The wolf watched Imai with dark, interested eyes, curious to the newcomer but not moving to greet the young man.

“Please come in,” the noblewoman said with a smile when he got there, her pale blue eyes resting on him with polite but genuine interest. She stood from her chair and came around to meet him, offering a firm hand to shake. “It was Imai, right? I’m sorry, I don’t believe we ever met at Sabertooth. This is my associate, Victoria.” Serilda gestured to the older woman, who nodded toward him in greeting but otherwise said nothing, continuing to fix herself a drink. “This is a bit of a surprise. I haven’t heard from anyone in Sabertooth in a while. Is everything alright? Was there something you needed help with?”

Valorie had expressed her thoughts that this was a social visit, but that didn’t necessarily mean the young man hadn’t been keeping his true purpose to himself. If Sabertooth needed Rune Knight assistance with something, Serilda would be more than happy to provide it. However, she didn’t want to assume, and thought it best to let the young man state his own intentions rather than rely on Valorie’s educated guesses.

Imai peeked his head into the door slowly, along with a small pink creature that was clinging to his back, like they weren’t entirely sure if they should walk right in or not despite the invitation for him to come up. He complimented the office on his way in, smiling up at her. He was dressed in a blue and orange get up with a couple belts that seemed to have pouches for holding various items. There was also a strip like a bandage of sorts across his nose, as well as a band of cloth around his head that bore the familiar Sabertooth logo. He came forward and took her hand in both of his, shaking it with a bit of gusto while the little creature on his back floated up into the air beside them to watch.

He spoke to her with a bit of a stutter that seemed to come more from potentially being nervous than having any sort of speech impediment. Apologizing to her for having never spoken to her before, he explained that it had bothered him that he had never gotten the chance to meet her and he had just been hoping to do so now while he happened to be in the area. He followed it up with complimenting her appearance, comparing seeing her in real life against the pictures from the magazine. The young man was clearly a bit star struck, which was both humbling and amusing, but also concerning as he had yet to stop shaking her hand.

Once he took a second to breathe between all his words, Imai did lift one hand up to wave to Victoria, acknowledging the woman and giving her encouragement for doing a good job. The older woman was smirking wickedly, not bothering to hide her amusement over what was happening. Aw, look at that, the Seal teased, her voice entering Serilda’s mind telepathically, You have a fan. How adorable.

I know how to hurt you, Serilda casually reminded the woman, though the threat wasn’t without humor. Still, it was certainly odd and a little uncomfortable but Serilda was more than used to maintaining an even demeanor in the face of awkward and concerning situations. As such, he wouldn’t be able to tell from her expression that she was a bit thrown off by his rather boisterous mannerisms, nor that she was having a small conversation in her head with the other woman. Instead, she simply asked about the state of Sabertooth.

He informed her that the guild was fine and then quickly asked if he was interrupting her work. The young man offered to help her with any cases she had, while also staunchly playing off how badly he actually wanted to help with them. He was apparently free all day to do so, and was about to continue speaking toward other things when his eyes fell upon the wolf. Xiuh looked up at him with her big curious eyes, interested in the young man but making no move to go see him. The animal didn’t jump out of any surprise when Imai disappeared from his spot to materialize next to her -- after all, she was used to Mythal and Serilda both being able to come and go in similar fashions.

However, as soon as Imai reached out a hand as if to pet her, a low warning growl rumbled from the starry coated canine. She did not snap at him or make any attempt to bite him, but if he continued to reach out to her it was obvious that she would. And for her part, Serilda did not make any effort to reprimand the wolf. After all, Xiuh was doing exactly as she had been trained, to keep a respectful distance from strangers. Imai may have been from her former guild, but Xiuh didn’t know him and the Voidwalker was not going to punish the canine for warning a stranger back.

Victoria chuckled openly from her spot on the sofa, where she’d returned to sit after collecting a drink for herself. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she informed the young man simply, a tone of amusement in her voice. “That wolf was bred and trained for war. She will bite your hand off without a second thought.”

Serilda shot the older woman a look, but made no effort to deny the words nor to chastise her for relaying them. After all, she was right, and it was only wise that a person learn to have a healthy respect for such trained animals for their own protection. With any luck, the growling was enough for Imai to keep from actually attempting to put his hands on the wolf. “She’s very friendly, but only when I have given her the command that tells her you are not a threat. Please give her some space so she can relax, and then I’ll introduce her so you can pet her.” Presuming that Imai complied with the request and took a step or two back, Serilda would get the wolf’s attention. “Xiuhcoatl.” The canine turned to look at the Voidwalker attentively. “Allieret. Til lethed.”

In the blink of an eye the animal went from guarded to full blown curious puppy, practically jumping up on her paws and trotting over to the young man to sniff him eagerly, bushy tail wagging to and fro. While they made one another’s acquaintances, Serilda turned to Imai’s own strange companion. “Hello there,” she said with a friendly smile, holding up a hand without necessarily reaching toward it to see if it would be comfortable coming to her. “Aren’t you beautiful?”

Whether or not the odd companion elected to come near her, Serilda would eventually draw the conversation back to some of Imai’s earlier queries. “I don’t usually work directly on most cases myself,” she admitted to him. “Normally I delegate them to other Knights. However, I admit that I’m not exactly great at taking breaks. If you’re interested in assisting with some field work, I certainly won’t turn you down. I wasn’t with Sabertooth for very long, but I grew very fond of the guild during the time I was there and will happily work with its current members again. Perhaps in lieu of an active case, I could just take you on a patrol through Era? Maybe we’ll come across something of interest.”

Thankfully, Imai chose to smartly back away from the wolf when she began to growl, taking the warning to heart. Serilda could feel through her bond with the animal that Xiuh wasn’t really happy about giving the warning. After all, at heart the wolf was a lover and basked in attention and affection. However, she also understood to an almost eerie degree the importance of her training and that it was there to keep her safe, so she followed Serilda’s instructions to a tee and always fell back to the basics of her training if her master didn’t give her ulterior prompts to follow. Imai looked quite surprised by the growling, leaping back in great concern until Victoria spoke up to inform him that Xiuh was a battle wolf.

The young man immediately prostrated himself before the wolf in apology, causing Serilda’s eyes to widen briefly in shock while Victoria barely managed to suppress a snort, particularly as he rambled on a bit of his inner thoughts and reasons for approaching the animal. Well, he’s quite excitable, isn’t he? the older woman asked, her voice sounding in Serilda’s head.

Be nice, the noblewoman chastised, though not terribly hard. Even she knew that Victoria wasn’t really being mean at the moment. After all, if the Seal wished to mock the young man she would have just done so out loud. Imai gave Xiuh some space and soon enough, after a few quick commands from Serilda, the wolf was all over the Sabertooth mage and begging him for attention and pets. At the same time, she was greeted by Imai’s own curious pet, who took Serilda’s offered hand in both of its own. Despite herself, the noblewoman chuckled a little in amusement and pleasure as the creature inspected her hand and gave soft mewlings not unlike a kitten expressing its happiness.

After Imai expressed his interest in helping Serilda with some cases, she informed him that most days she didn’t have the luxury of doing field work as she was typically far too busy with other things. However, being in charge meant that she could choose to take on any field work if she wanted to, provided her other responsibilities weren’t pressing. It just so happened that she was fairly caught up on most of her work and didn’t have any appointments left for the rest of the day. She wouldn’t normally extend an offer for a ride along, but given her history with Sabertooth and her vested interest in wanting to maintain a positive and mutually beneficial working relationship with them, it was an easy choice to make the invitation.

He accepted the offer immediately, expressing his excitement over the idea of essentially being a Rune Knight for the day. Or well, a “Saber Knight” as he put it. Apparently he thought doing a patrol was high level Knight work, and Serilda couldn’t help but be amused with the idea of how quickly his mind might change on that once he realized that most patrols were fairly boring. Decided that their partnership for the day made her a “Rune Tooth”, he agreed and assured her he would be of great assistance, stating that he was quite strong and she wouldn’t have to worry about him. As a demonstration, he flexed and performed a series of push ups, sit ups, and squats so quickly that she almost couldn’t even keep track of it, his body little more than a blur in her vision.

She blinked at him for a moment as he finally stopped and stood upright again, pointing at her and giving her a wink of all things. Well he was certainly confident, she supposed. A part of her was starting to wonder what the hell she’d just signed up for, but it was too late to back down now. Plus, he was clearly young. She couldn’t fault him for being… well, animated. With her same composed smile, she told him, “Alright then, it’s settled. Just allow me to lock up my office. Victoria..?” Serilda looked to the old woman where she sat on the small sofa, wordlessly inquiring as to whether the Seal would join them or not.

The nephilim gave her a considering look and Serilda knew she was judging whether or not she wanted to be present for whatever trainwreck this expedition was going to be. The Field Marshal gave her a slight warning look, once again reminding Victoria to be nice with whatever she was thinking of saying, though it was a toss up as to whether or not the older woman actually caught the look or not. Finally, the Seal flapped a dismissive hand. “You go on. I’ll stay here and finish my reading. The streets of Era are far too crowded for my tastes.”

“Very well,” the noblewoman said, somewhat relieved that Victoria had opted not to come. The nephilim had been doing better about being more respectful to mortals in recent months, but Serilda wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to hold herself back for long against someone as excitable as Imai. The last thing she needed was Victoria ruining the Knights’ working relationship with Serilda’s alma mater. Leaving the older woman in her office alone, Serilda led Imai out along with both their pets, and locked the door behind them so no one would bother the older woman while they were out.

With that all set, the four of them made their way out of the Rune Knight headquarters, with Xiuhcoatl keeping in stride beside Serilda’s heel obediently without the need for a leash. The noblewoman herself walked at an easy pace, not in any real hurry, her posture tall and confident with her hands clasped at east behind the small of her back. They made small talk as they walked, with Serilda asking Imai a bit about himself and his magic, and how long he’d been with Sabertooth. As they made their way down the hilltop where the Magic Council and Rune Knight headquarters were located, she inquired a bit into the state of the guild and into the health of some of the members she knew that were still there.

The two of them wandered around a bit through some of the town square, and it probably wouldn’t take long for Imai to figure out that the life of a patrol cop wasn’t exactly the most exciting one. Though crime was pervasive in just about every city, it wasn’t a constant flow of activity throughout the day. They passed by other pairs of patrolling Knights a number of times, each of them pausing to salute Serilda and greet them, giving quick reports of the odd theft or minor harassment here or there before moving on with their beats. For the most part, the job mostly just involved the two of them doing a lot of walking and chatting while Serilda kept idly alert with her ears and eyes for any strange activity, somehow both able to pay attention to her conversation with Imai while also paying attention to their surroundings.

It wasn’t until they had turned their way into the housing district and been walking for a half hour or so that they came across a scene that drew Serilda’s attention. A small crowd of people were gathered outside a house, some of them clearly being nosy while others were comforting a crying woman. A few Knights in the colors and attire of the Combat division were present outside, keeping onlookers back and questioning people while a couple others moved in and out of the house investigating some kind of scene. The Marshal frowned. She could already smell the blood from here and knew without a doubt that a murder had taken place. “I hope you don’t have a queasy stomach,” she told Imai quietly, leading him toward the incident. “Someone was killed here, and recently by the smell of the blood. Follow me, and feel free to look around but if you find anything don’t touch it. Just get me or one of the other Knights so we can make sure any evidence is as unaltered as possible.”