Beyond the Sky - Session 19.3

-21st of Autumn's Second-
Valaire finds herself back in one of the deserted East Wing rooms once more, where Kallian can be seen preparing tea, and setting out a tray of small cakes.
Valaire begins to approach the set of tables, wearing a new dress as somewhat more risque, yet modest, than from the day she was with Kallian alone.
Valaire: "Ah, Kallian, I apologize for my tardiness. Were you waiting long?"
Kallian: "Not at all, you're actually a little early, I was still setting things up."
Valaire: "Please, allow me to assist. It seems unfair for you to do all the work."
Kallian: "It's okay, I just finished. The cake wasn't that hard to make."
Valaire: "You made it yourself, prince?"
Kallian: "Yes. I was testing if I could cook cakes with magic, so I commissioned a few scrolls..."
"My first attempts weren't that good, though."
"It turns out fire magic is not suitable for cooking."
Valaire: "Ah, it's a matter of intensity, you see."
Kallian sits down on the couch.
Kallian: "In the end I had to cook them the old fashioned way."
Valaire: "If you use the full force of a spell..."
Valaire demonstrates, raising her hand and igniting the entirety in a bright flame.
Valaire: "Of course it will cause charring."
Valaire tempers the flame, reducing it to a small flame on the tip of her claw.
Valaire: "But a smaller amount with more control will give you much more flexibility, no?"
Kallian: "True, but when you cast from a scroll, it's difficult to control the intensity."
"So I ended up turning the first batch to ash."
Valaire: "True, scrolls are very much difficult to customize. All the casting was done for you in advance, no?"
Kallian: "Indeed, it was a few spells I didn't yet have in my book."
Valaire: "A shame it didn't work, then; scrolls can be expensive."
Kallian: "I'm wondering if there's a way to create a custom way of amplifying spark so it could cook food, but not burn it."
"Heh, these are the sorts of experiments I enjoy getting up to after I've finished researching."
Valaire: "Speaking of experiments, I hope I did not bother you too much with mine."
Kallian: "How did you do that?"
"I heard you from behind me. I saw your spellbook, and it's not a spell you know, at least not one I think you know..."
Valaire: "Well, it's quite interesting, isn't it? You see..."
[Mockingbird, Adrian's voice from a distance to Kallian's right] "Your highness, what are you doing with my retainer at this hour?"
Kallian: "Ah, Adrian, it's not what you think!"
"...wait, is that the...?"
Valaire: "Hmhmhm~"
Kallian: "You can mimic someone's voice, too? That's really impressive."
Valaire: "As my life as a courtesan has taught me, everything is about being who they want me to be."
"If they want me to play the poor sweet damsel in distress, that is my role. If they want me to play the tough Eriban dominatrix, that is my role."
"My popularity came from simply being good at being everything my partners could desire, so being able to shift personalities on a whim became a valuable talent."
Kallian: "That's a very useful skill indeed."
"Especially for... the work you do."
Valaire: "I might have used a little magic on my own vocal chords."
"But I am proud to say that it is a talent of great use."
Kallian: "Definitely so for messing with people."
Valaire: "I need merely hear a voice..." [Kallian's voice] "And I can repeat it, verbatim."
Kallian: "I love it. It must be quite versatile, especially when you are in court."
Valaire: "Of course. I do love the ability to adapt to anywhere, and I enjoy being the center of attention, even despite my racial disadvantage."
Kallian: "Even if you were sneaking around, to throw someone off guard or to make them look the other way as you, er... punish the wrongdoers."
"As you do."
Valaire: "Please, my prince, you mustn't understand. You make me out to be some indiscriminate murderer."
Kallian: "I don't."
Valaire: "I merely wish to safeguard my sisters from the evils of the street."
Kallian: "Like I said on our last meeting, I trust your judgment to be sound."
"Perhaps you could use this desire to stop wrongdoers that don't just seek out to harm your sisters."
Valaire: "But I already have, Kallian. I used my talents to assist Lord Adrian in capturing Lord Goring, someone who clearly meant harm to more than just my sisters."
Kallian: "I meant more, going out there to punish those who the guards can't."
"Sometimes our city guard can be inept... But that's the trouble when you're in a city as huge as ours."
Valaire: "It would not be a bad idea at all. But I certainly cannot engage in such unlawful behavior, and it would be unbecoming for me to do so in a manner that would link such deeds to you or to Lord Adrian."
Kallian: "I would imagine so."
Valaire: "If I were discovered as one who went out in the streets and indiscriminately assaulted thugs, rapists, and murderers, then there would be a scandal for both of you." [Bluff: 35]
Kallian: "Right..."
"I need to talk over with Mother about improving the guard's training."
"Or maybe just get Freyja to stalk some of the rougher streets!"
Valaire: "If you could implement that school of the arcane idea you mentioned the other day, including mages would certainly increase the effectiveness of guard units."
Kallian: "You were sitting next to her, too, in the meeting. I imagine that can be rough on a stranger to her."
Valaire: "Hm... I wonder."
Kallian: "You wonder?"
Valaire: "I wonder if a different Valaire would have been afraid, other than the one that had been there."
Kallian: "... a different Valaire?"
"I'm not entirely sure I follow."
Valaire: "I suppose it would be difficult to."
"I've lived my life, as you know, as a courtesan. I adapt to my client of the evening's desires, needs, and preferences."
Kallian: "I know that."
Valaire: "I use this same talent when in locations such as courts. I'm putting on a different dress, a different face."
"Every day, it's a different Valaire, a different personality, a different outfit."
"When one spends their entire life pretending to be other people, at what point are they supposed to figure out who they are?"
Kallian: "That's always trouble..."
Valaire reaches an arm down, as a sinewy, barbed tail flits its way out from behind her dress and entwines itself around the limb.
Valaire: "I wonder if the Valaire as a child would have been afraid of Freyja. Certainly, a tengu of that size seems quite intimidating."
"But the Valaire in the audience room that day wasn't. She couldn't be."
Kallian: "Maybe, now you work as a retainer, you might be able to stop needing to change who you are so much, and be able to find the real you."
"I'd be more than happy to help."
Valaire: "Maybe I can find me. Or maybe that me is long gone."
"Please tell me, dear Kallian."
"Is the Valaire speaking to you now how I truly am? Or is it a Valaire that wants you to like her?"
"Am I someone who puts on a different face just to persuade you, like Lord Goring did? Or am I being genuine, sincere with my heart?"
Kallian: "...you've said a lot of things you haven't had to, to get my approval."
"I thought that you wanted me to like you at the start, but I hope that would've gone away so we can speak honestly to each other."
"We've not talked for that long. I imagine it might take some more time for us to completely be able to know one another."
Valaire: "That part will never go away, dear Kallian. I do want you to like me. I want everyone to like me."
"Living in a world where everyone can see me as a bastard child of a daemonspawn, I must always put on a face to persuade people to like me."
Kallian: "That much is true, and that much I accept as being a part of you."
Valaire: "So how much of this is how I genuinely am, and how much of it is me desperately trying to get you to overlook the fact that I am a fiend, a manipulator, and a whore, trying to get in your good graces?"
Kallian: "I never thought you being a fiend, or a courtesan was an issue at all."
"I guess I had already overlooked them."
Valaire: "Maybe the real Valaire is this frightened woman you see now, quivering behind her insecurities and unable to determine who she is?"
Kallian: "I just see you as 'Valaire'."
Valaire: "You are too kind, dear Prince Kallian. You are far too kind."
"I do not wish to abuse that kindness as Lord Goring did, but I wonder if I already have been."
Kallian: "I don't think so. You haven't seemed to have sought out things for your own benefit and to everyone's detriment, and you inform and help me learn."
"All that dastard did was feed me lies and avoid telling me about what I really wanted to know."
"Now I'm more aware, I've been able to go out and see things for myself."
"I haven't seen any lies from you. I've just seen someone I can really talk to."
Kallian: "I'm enormously thankful for your company, especially in times like these."
Valaire: "And that is the role I play. I am a fellow mage, one you can confide to and let your guard down about. Someone you can see as a friend, who you never have to worry about treating you because of your birth circumstances and not who you are as a person."
"So long as that is the role I play, I will fulfill it admirably."
Kallian: "Is it who you want to be?"
Valaire: "That is the question I ask myself every day."
"Every day, when I retrieve my spellbook from its extradimensional home, I ask myself, 'who will I be today?'"
"Do you want to know what the answer always is?"
Kallian: "Yes."
Valaire retrieves a small glass vial from a small pouch on her side that was concealed by the illusory dress, as her barbed tail tightens its grip on her other arm, trickles of blood beginning to appear.
Valaire collects the blood droplets with the glass vial deftly, putting a stopper on it and leaving the vial on the table.
Valaire: "A daemon."
Kallian gets up, deciding to sit next to Valaire.
Kallian: "Perhaps, if you are at least with me, you could answer your book with 'Valaire'. I don't care about your race, or your profession, or any of that. In here, this is a place you don't have to be a daemon."
Valaire extends her bloody arm, watching as the numerous small wounds are already healing themselves up.
Kallian: "It's at least a start, isn't it?"
Kallian looks hopefully at Valaire.
Valaire: "It is strange, isn't it?"
"I lie, I betray, I hurt, I kill. But in the end, I want to be loved."
"Perhaps, just for you, prince, I can try to be 'more' than a daemon."
"But I am reminded every day, that every time I need to collect blood, every time I see my reflection, every time I notice my tail, I am a fiend. And stories of tieflings certainly travel far and wide."
Kallian: "Thank you. In here, you'll definitely be loved, fiend or not."
"In fact, I find your horns rather fetching."
Valaire: "I am undeserving of your flattery, my prince."
Kallian: "You're more deserving than you think."
Valaire: "Or do I just pretend to be?"
Kallian: "No, I know you're deserving of this."
Valaire: "Still, dear Kallian, I'll try to be more relaxed around you. Just for you."
Kallian puts his arm around Valaire.
Kallian: "I'm honoured to be considered so."
Valaire extends her tail, as an ornate book appears out of thin air and is quickly grasped by the waiting tail.
Valaire: "Then this can just be our little private retreat."
[Mockingbird, imitating Queen Rozeal, from far north of Kallian] "Kallian, who is that you're with?"
Kallian: "M-mother! I... I... I don't know if it is what you think! I just... oh."
Valaire: "You are going to be far too fun to tease, you know that? So genuine."
Kallian: "I don't think I will be able to not fall for that."
"Though one other thing I find myself starting to fall for is you."
Valaire: "Again, you flatter me, dear prince."
Valaire pulls her spellbook closer, laying it on her lap.
Valaire: "But do not worry. Valaire isn't going anywhere. She'll be right where you want her to be."
Kallian: "That's where she's wanted. Now, we should probably get to scribing at some point..."
Kallian puts his hands forward, his own spellbook appearing out of the air for himself, into his arms.
Kallian: "This is just one of the many things I've managed to learn from you."
"Let's see how much more we can learn, eh?"
Valaire: "My pleasure, prince."
The two begin to scribe through the night in the deserted library, until the early morning.