A Test of Honesty (Zeno)

Kyll finished reading the novel that she had received from a spice stand at the market in the Karakuri City. Her main thoughts were to finish it up and then bake the spice cake she wanted to make to celebrate her rank up and also as a sign of 'friendship' to her master. She knew that she was going to have to spill everything to him when she read through the book. The new novel series her mentor had started writing and hiding in different areas was a series about a girl named Keira Fox and a Fortune Teller named Zero Moon wondering around trying to find Dylan, Keira's adopted father. The first part of the book dealt with Keira going to the woods to find the ruins of her home village and learning the truth that she in fact did destroy the village, but the majority of the population did move on. The book also revealed that there was death at the scene of the village. Keira came back to the Zero to speak to him about what her findings were and he performed a card reading stating that she was to go to an area full of grass and cliffs. The book finished there and Kyll figured out maybe she needed to report her findings to Zeno and the two would discuss things further.

While Kyll was reflecting over her thoughts on this whole scenario, she was baking the spice cake. She finished it up and then pulled it out of the oven. Kyll walked back over to read the book, then the paper cover fell off. Kyll picked it up and there was a letter to her.

Dear Kyll,

If you have read this book, then yes, you are on the correct track. This is an exercise of honesty. Zeno needs to trust each one of the guild members he guides and protects. Losing that trust may result in dire consequences. You must learn that yes while you still have a dark past, it is okay to confide in your guild master and closest members. I want you to know that this is going to be the hardest part about your quest to finding your inner strength. In future novels, your journey to finding your balance may need the help of someone else other than Zeno. So hold your new friends close and dear to your heart.

You'll always be my student no matter what and you are forgiven, but understand that once you unblock some of these memories that you have sealed, things will NOT be the same as they are now.

Einrich Flandre

Kyll waited at the counter until the cake was done cooling. She placed the cover back on the book and then stuffed it in her obi. She then put a vanilla bean frosting on it and sliced a piece off neatly placing it on a plate. She walked through the kitchen and into the tavern. She looked up to the steel door behind the bar and pushed her glasses back. Kyll was wearing her usual combat wear today just in case this opportunity of an open steel door arrived. She had heard of many traps in the guild and her room in the guild dorms had a couple of secret entrances. When her gaze came to the door, she was correct. Today was the perfect day. Apparently Zeno had left the door open to the stair case leading up. She walked past the bar and then looked up. Oh my... she thought seeing the stairs. It was a long way up. Kyll on the other hand had an innate ability to fly. She closed her eyes and her yellow aura surrounded her. She through the door way and slammed the door shut. It got dark, but her aura made it so she was able to see. Immediately upon closing the door she heard a switch. Showtime, she thought. Kyll began to fly up the stairs swerving past the gauntlets and missing the arrows. She got up right near the top and she heard a slam. There was a boulder headed her way. Kyll blinked as she flew back down. There was barely any room to squeeze past this rock. Kyll closed her eyes and floated so that she was in between a couple of stairs. The boulder flew down the stairs to Kyll. Kyll did a floating spin kick and turned the boulder into rubble. Kyll flew up the stairs once more this time instead of arrows, the traps were shooting ropes at her. "OH GOD! NO!" Kyll shrieked as a rope tied around her ankles and threw her off balance. Kyll held the plate above her head as the ropes began to cover her up. "Ropes... why did it have to be ropes... I hate ropes..." Suddenly she was tripped as she made her way hopping up the stairs one by one. The plate fell out of her hands and as soon as her hands came down to catch it she was tied up. Kyll immediately moved forward to catch the plate with her mouth, then she caught the slice of cake on the plate miraculously. She fell forward and she inched her way up. Kyll was at the office door. How in the world was she going to knock?

The door opened slowly as Kyll's chin hit the final step before Zeno's chambers. The guildmaster's shadow appeared in the doorway, tall and straight as silence hit the stairway. After staring straight into Kyll's eyes, seeing her all entangled on the steps with a plate of cake in her mouth, he raised an eyebrow with a completely straight face and slowly knelt down on one knee. 

His right arm was resting on his knee as he let another brief moment of silence pass with a blank facial expression and hidden amusement. Then, slowly but steadily, he lifted a finger and moved it toward the cake. Observing her eyes as they followed his finger, Zeno dug through the cake at the same pace. He made sure to gather a lot of frosting on his finger, and a nice amount of cake stuck to it as he brought his finger up to his lips. Slowly still, he put the finger in his mouth, ate the cake and licked his finger clean afterward. 

He licked his lips before he spoke.
"Spice cake... Excellent."

Zeno then immediately grabbed the plate out of Kyll's mouth, got up, turned around and went back into his room, leaving the door open. The guildmaster had left a knife on the steps earlier, so that when Kyll would inevitably end up all tied up in ropes, she would be able to cut herself free.

Kyll watched and immediately quieted down and stopped struggling. Zeno took the cake from her leaving a knife in the ground and walked away. Kyll sighed and grabbed the knife with her mouth then rolled to her side. Kyll began to demonstrate her flexibility by bending closer to her legs. She sawed away at the ropes finally making it up to her hands. Kyll quickly snatched the knife from her mouth and broke out of the ropes. "Thank you Master Zeno!" Kyll smiled enthusiastically. She smiled happily noting the compliment about her baking. "I hope this lands me the position as guild cook, BUT I want to bring something up. The real reason I came in here." She took the book her mentor wrote in hand. "This book, I got it from the spice shop in town. She handed it to me saying that someone gave it to her for me." Kyll flipped it over revealing a special mark of a canine looking animal that looked like it was sprinting. The tail was rather large, but it looked like a mix of a cat and dog. "It's Master Einrich's stamp." She handed the book to Zeno. "He modeled the story after you and me."

Curiousity appeared on his face as he held the book in his hands. The stamp was clearly there and Zeno could feel this was just the beginning of something. He sighed as he flipped it open, remembering all the other stories Einrich had written about him, wondering what it would be this time.

He raised his eyebrows as he scanned through the first few pages.
"It would seem that we are going on a little adventure then?", Zeno asked rethorically.

The book told the story of a lost girl finding a home with other mages of her kind and that she was ready for a first great adventure. Zeno knew that whatever Flandre would dictate in this book would lean very closely to reality in one way or another. The man could write prophecies if he wanted to.

Kyll put her hands in front of her and then grabbed on to them. She started to fiddle with her thumbs a tad nervously. Then Zeno finished. "Y-yes..." Kyll said with a smile. "Of course we are going to go out on an adventure." Kyll began to fidget nervously. "I got this book from the spice shop after going to the remains of my home." Kyll opened her glowing green eyes to show that she was serious. "According to the message in my book... I'm supposed to be absolutely honest with you." Kyll sighed.

The truth was, Kyll did not want to reveal her findings in the forest. She found a couple of things there that she didn't want to see to begin with. The thought of telling Zeno that she found somethings that didn't quite add up to her story she told Zeno. She pushed back her glasses and took another deep breath. Kyll directed her eyes down to Zeno's feet. "It's exactly as I have said before. A large crater from my explosion." She put a hand into the back part of her obi and took out a platinum ring with a lotus flower engraved on the inside. The ring was thick and looked charred. There were a couple of words engraved, but it was rather hard to read them. The only word that could be read was "aeternum." "This was my ex husband's.... It was found not in the center, but closer to the center. The ring was a engraved with words from me... Teneri in amore in aeternum." She sighed and looked back at Zeno.

The lack of eye contact when she told him about what happened sgave it away, though there were more signs Zeno could have read.

"You know I can tell when you're lying," he said calmly.

Zeno was already dressed up and ready to go, but he remained still until Kyll would at least opened up the door to the truth a bit more. He wanted nothing more than to take away that veil of darkness around her, but it was such a delicate matter. It seemed like he would have to keep tiptoeing around the issue in circles, slowly spiralling closer and closer to the center. Flandre's book would be the roadmap.