Chapter 789

Jara let out a long breath as she seemed to collapse back into the chair, energy bleeding out of her. Kat just watched it happen. The burning anger and indignation replaced by the look of a woman who was tired from holding the weight of the world. Kat was a little surprised at that, but reading between the lines it wasn’t so ridiculous. If Jara’s mother was as lazy as mentioned it was likely Jara was doing her research, learning how to run things, and running a number of things her mother couldn’t be bothered with. Add onto that the constant threat of marriage and dealing with idiots in general and apparently the poor girl really needed to vent.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” whispered Jara. The words slowly falling from her mouth slowly, as if they were edging towards a cliff face without knowing about the water at the bottom.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” said Kat easily. It was true too. She’d dealt with much worse tantrums from younger kids.

“No no. I mean... no I shouldn’t have done that. I am not criticising you just myself. I’m trusting you quite a lot. Sure, I know that demons can’t lie and you said you’re form Apep... but it is much easier to pretend to be a demon then it is for a demon to pretend not to be,” Kat opened her mouth to retort but Jara just lolled her head back and waved Kat off, “Oh I don’t think you’re pretending. I think I’m good enough at reading people for that...

“But it’s not like I tested anything to ensure your demonic heritage. There’re quite a few ways I could go about it. Trying to use an artifact that generates illusions on you, finding out what colour your blood is. I could have actually checked this letter from Apep. Maybe it talks about what he did to summon you. I might be able to determine if someone was faking the summoning that way. It was just... reckless of me to dump all that on you.

“Apparently I needed to complain more than I thought. I do wonder when I got so wound up? I don’t really go to my parents with these kinds of issues anymore because I don’t want them to dismiss me as just having a tantrum. When it suits them they still like to treat me as if I’m not doing half of their work. Apparently I don’t complain to Apep like I used to. I’m not sure I like that particular fact... so I suppose I’m now invested in getting Zuhra and Apep together so that things can settle down again and my parents can stop pushing me...”

Jara sighed and rolled herself forward. Her eyes gaining back some of their light but her posture still hunched over and her head not quite so tall. “With that resolution made. What do you want to know?”

.....

*Um...* “I suppose whatever you can tell us? I mean... the first thing would probably be if Apep has a chance at all? Like... is she a lesbian? Is there anything major she wouldn’t like about Apep? Stuff like that,”

Jara nodded at the questions and said, “Well... I do know she’s at least bisexual. It’s not really come up and I suspect she’s straight but, well, I don’t want there to be anything unclear right now so I’m telling you exactly what I know. As for big issues... well... the reason she started working here is because her fiancé, who was male, died.

“I personally have never really pressed on the details. It continues to be a bit of a sore spot for her. It’s also probably the biggest issue that Apep will have to overcome,” said Jara firmly.

Kat tilted her head to the side, “I don’t get it. If he’s dead what’s the problem? I mean, I’m assuming Zuhra isn’t still grieving right?”

Jara looked at Kat like she was an idiot and Lily’s own annoyance could be felt through the link. Before Kat could ask what Lily’s problem was Lily chimed in, [Kat. That’s not what makes it complicated. Depending on how close they were and what caused his death she might consider herself effectively widowed. I... I could always tell myself that I’d move on from you if you didn’t return my feelings and I moved on but... I don’t really know what I would have done if you’d died.]

[When the love of your life dies... it’s not just that they’re dead. It’s that you found the person you thought of as ‘the one’ and now they’re gone. It introduces a lot of questions. She may want to stay faithful, she might believe that her fiancé would be mad at her choosing someone else. She might see it as betraying the love they had together or something. It’s actually rather complex]

“Kat?” asked Jara curiously once she saw Kat’s eyes come back into focus.

“Oh... um sorry. Lily was just explaining why I was being an idiot. I guess... I guess I can’t really picture it properly. I mean, my parents are dead and I don’t miss them. I never knew them and I never felt like I needed a parent to replace them,”

“Huh,” said Jara, “Well you’ve got that in common with Zuhra. She’s an orphan as well apparently. Grew up in the orphanage run by the 8th. Still, it can certainly be rough on someone when they lose their love. I mean what...” Jara trailed off and glanced between Lily and Kat not sure if she was willing to voice the question.

Kat still answered though, “Assuming I had no way to prevent it we’d both die regardless. We have a magical bond and it really isn’t meant to be broken. I know that Lily wouldn’t survive my death. Her current body requires constant connection to a demon. On my end, even if my body survived I’m not sure my mind and brain could deal with the backlash generated,” Kat shrugged, “It really isn’t an issue for us.”

Jara nodded, “Well that’s one way to be secure in your relationship I suppose. I don’t really understand the desire to connect to someone so completely that we’d take each other out... but if that’s what you like I guess. Back to Zuhra though... I’m not really sure how hard that will be. She obviously sprinted into the job to deal with the sadness.

“I mentioned she was a workaholic, right? Well I meant it quite literally. It’s what she does when she is stressed. When we first had her employed she was up at all hours cleaning, or sharpening knives, prepping food for the chefs. Literally anything to keep her hands moving. We didn’t notice that she wasn’t sleeping more than twice a week for a little bit. She was good enough with make-up that she could hide the signs.

“Apparently she quite literally cleaned until she passed out. Then she’d get up a few hours later and keep going. The only reason we found out was that one of the other maids was up getting a drink and they caught her in the act. While she has gotten better since then... we do have another maid assigned to making sure she’s sleeping... and two knight guardsmen that check randomly after that to make sure she STAYS asleep...

“So that’s... I guess something Apep should know? Apep might already... it’s not a particularly big secret. It’s also something he’ll have to deal with... but that’s all for later... hmm... is surprisingly hard to think of stuff about Zuhra that might be an issue now I think about it. There’s pretty much just that big black mark in the form of her fiancé and that’s it. Maybe finding out what happened to him?”

“You think I should?” asked Kat

“Eh... I can’t really think of anything else to go for. I mean, I could tell you her favourite foods, what she likes to wear on her days off. That sort of thing, but none of that really matters for your purposes. You just need to know if Apep has a chance and... well I don’t know that one myself. If I did I would have just told him he’s got a good chance or no chance or whatever. Heck I WISH I knew how she felt about him. Then I could have dealt with this whole thing ages ago.

“Frankly... I think chasing down information about her fiancé is your best bet. You’ll probably find out a lot about Zuhra along the way. Maybe other dealbreakers, maybe old friends of hers. Actually hmm... I wonder if I can write up permission for you to investigate. Make it a bit more official. As a maid under my families employee she consented to a background check... I could maybe... hmm... yes I think I’ll see if I can do something up for you. If you find yourself in hot water with the city guard for asking questions. Just know it doesn’t give you anything more than permission to ask. Nobody HAS to answer so browbeating them won’t work,”