"Uh, why don't we do it this way?" Jenn asked, feeling like tensions were getting a little too high as a result of what was said. Even if Versith understood it perfectly, Jenn had the feeling that she wasn't taking it very well anyway. "How about I leave, stay at an inn tonight while all of you discuss what you need to discuss and maybe leave as soon as you're done, if you don't stay her for the night, and then I return in the morning to talk with the duchess about all of this."
Jenn couldn't say what she thought the effects would be, but she wasn't liking how things seemed like they were starting to head in a downward spiral. Where nothing positive would come out of it.
While she wasn't sure what to expect as a response, she was surprised to hear silence for a few minutes. Even Versith seemed to be looking at Jenn in a different light. One where she wasn't looking at her as suspiciously as she had been either of the two times that they'd really met and had a conversation.
Eventually Star seemed to recover first. "Very well, we accept that offer."
Jenn blinked. Her suggestion had been more for the duchess, since she really was the one who had the power here. Including the power to put them in whatever dungeon she had if she got too upset with them. Or at least with Jenn. It wasn't clear if Versith would try and put the centaurs in the dungeon as well, considering their size and strength.
Versith sighed a moment after that. "It does have the sound of reason within it," she remarked loftily. Versith then turned to Emily. "Accompany her to the inn that she will be staying at. Return to me with her in the morning just after I finish my breakfast. I'm sure you'll know when that'll be."
Emily nodded, though Jenn had the feeling that Emily was supposed to be her surveillance, but she couldn't help but wonder if there might be surveillance on Emily as well. Versith certainly seemed to be the cautious sort. Besides, she had no idea how long Emily had been around the duchess or even how much trust the duchess had in her in the first place. As far as she knew, Emily had only met the duchess after her first visit here.
Although, as she readied herself to be dismissed by the duchess, she remembered Rick. She didn't know exactly when he'd escaped from being a slave, but it clearly had been a while at least by the time she encountered him. While he decided to marry one of her advisors, Jenn had to recall that he'd been on this world for a while. Which meant that Emily probably had been too.
It wasn't clear what Emily had been doing in that time, but Jenn could at least be comforted by the fact that she hadn't sold her out from the moment they saw each other. That at least showed that she was willing to keep a secret from the duchess. Even if the duchess suspected the truth.
The duchess turned back to Jenn a moment later. "I will accept your proposal, but we'll see if you'll be better off for it or not. It could very well be that you'd have been better to have stayed with these new creatures than to have decided to separate from them."
"The stars told us to follow her lead in this," Star chimed in. "What path she chooses will be the one that will prosper us all the most."
Versith looked at Star as if she wasn't sure if she was completely serious or not and Jenn had to wonder if she had the same kind of doubts as well. As she certainly didn't think that she'd pick the 'most prosperous path' or whatever just because se was getting uneasy about how Star was interacting with the duchess and seemed to be challenging her.
"Anyway," the duchess continued. "Leave now and I'll see you in the morning at the time I specified. Emily, please escort her out."
Emily nodded and walked towards the door, motioning for Jenn to follow her.
–Are you going to tell me what you're doing here?– Jenn asked with her magic, doing her best to not let anything show as she made her way over to the door.
Emily didn't respond to her question, which merely annoyed Jenn. She couldn't say why, but it did. Even though she supposed that Emily was doing this out of pure survival rather than any other reason.
As they left the room and started heading towards the exit, Jenn wasn't sure if Emily was going to respond. She hoped that if Emily did respond that she'd use her magic rather than out loud. It was likely that Emily was aware of all the ears around them that could hear things that neither of them wanted to have overheard, but it was also possible that she was merely trying to get Jenn to volunteer information that she could use to better her own position here.
It was possible even though Jenn didn't think that it was likely.
Finally, when the front gates closed behind them, Emily used her magic to speak. –Sorry about that, but I'm not sure if any of the duchess' people can detect when someone is using magic. I certainly didn't want them to wonder why we'd be using magic without speaking. I know you and your friends can, but I'd have to then explain myself to the duchess and I really don't want to be on her bad side.–
Jenn couldn't help but giggle. "What?" Emily asked, sounding a little irritated.
"Nothing," Jenn replied out loud, just something that came to mind that I found funny, is all."
With her magic, she added, –I had the same thought when I met with her the first time too. She certainly looks like she has a temper.–
–You don't know the half of it.– Emily groaned. –I've seen her come down on one of her guards because they were getting hostile towards me when I first got in here just for looking around. I'm not sure but I think that the duchess planned that to begin with.–
Jenn nodded as she was using her own magic to scan the inns for her squad. Not so much where she'd read their minds, but rather where she'd look for something that felt familiar. Familiar enough that she'd focus on those, hoping that there wasn't anyone else that would be familiar enough to her in this city. She especially didn't want to run into her friends by accident like this.
Which made her question why she had thought this was a good idea in the first place.
–By the way, what're you doing here anyway? I thought you were looking for that canyon of griffins or something.– Emily asked.
–That canyon is on this world. I just haven't been able to figure out where just yet.– Jenn answered, wondering when she'd be able to get back to that search. –Though, I've kinda gotten a little sidetracked on the search.–
–Oh? What happened?– Emily asked, sounding more like the cheerleaders gossiping at the lunch table to Jenn. A sensation that made her suddenly long for being back on Earth. If only so she could experience that again.
–Well, I'm helping someone who goes by the Blue Rose with establishing a place that would be safe for others to live.– Jenn felt like she was doing a horrible job of explaining it, but she felt she needed to come up with something that didn't include the possibility that she was one of the ones in charge there, even if she managed to avoid Emily wondering if she was the Blue Rose herself.
–Wow.– Emily replied. –I've been trying to get the duchess to find the others I came here with, since she already had sold them as slaves. The only one she couldn't sell was Nick. I'm not sure why, but he's the only one left.–
Jenn blinked. She hadn't heard about that from Rick and she couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't mentioned it to her. Especially with all the time that she'd been around him. Although, as she thought about it, she supposed that maybe he had. With all that had been going on for her, it was hard to remember.
–Well, I can assure you that Rick's fine.– Jenn said, hoping this would come as good news to Emily. –He escaped being a slave and joined the people I'm with. He even married one of the advisors to the Blue Rose.–
"Wait, really?" Emily asked out loud, nearly yelling, clearly more surprised than Jenn had expected.
Jenn nodded anyway. She figured if there was anyone following them, it didn't matter that they'd been staying quiet with their conversation at this point. "Yeah, he did. If you'd like, I could try to get him to come down here. I'm sure that he'd be happy to see that you're at least all right."
–What happened to talking with our magic?– Emily asked, almost as if Jenn had committed a cardinal sin by saying so much out loud.
–What happened was you talking so loud.– Jenn reminded her. –I gave an answer so if the duchess asks what that was about, you can tell her that I mentioned Rick and how he was an escaped slave and that you recognized enough about him to know that it was Rick I was talking about.–
Emily nodded, still looking a little shocked at the revelation. –Aren't you afraid the duchess will demand you return him?–
Jenn merely shrugged. –If she does, I'm sure the Blue Rose will offer compensation for him. As it's not like she planned on keeping him as a slave for herself or anything, right?–
–Uh, I'll take your word for it.– Emily replied, sounding a little hesitant on the subject. –I haven't met this Blue Rose, so I really don't know.–
Jenn felt like she could kick herself right then. She hadn't meant to phrase it that way, but it wasn't like she could take it back now. Although, she certainly wouldn't mind having that power: rewinding time. She could then tell all her teachers, including Mr. Samuels, what she thought about them without worrying about them doing anything, since she'd merely rewind time and have it where she 'hadn't' said anything like that to them.
–Anyway, the Blue Rose doesn't care to have slaves.– Jenn continued. –She wants to create a society where there aren't any slaves.–
Emily nodded in response. She didn't say anything, but Jenn thought that she agreed. Or at least, that's how it felt to her.
They continued on without saying anything more until Jenn reached the inn where she could hear her squad talking by a window as they passed by.
"This is where I'll be staying," Jenn said, not sure what else to say at the moment. "So, I'll see you in the morning?"
Emily smirked as she shook her head. "Sorry, but while I certainly would like to sleep where I usually do, I'm pretty sure the duchess wanted me to stay in the same room as you. Or at least the same inn," Emily replied, sounding more amused than Jenn would have liked.
Jenn remembered what the duchess said, and she recalled how it sounded to her as well. She just wasn't sure she wanted to trust herself in the same room as Emily through the night. Not with what Emily had tried pulling on her the first day that they'd met.
However, it did give her more opportunity to fill her in a little bit on what she'd been doing since they'd last seen each other. As well as finding out more about what Emily had been doing on this world since she'd arrived, including about how long she'd been here as well.
_
"So, you're saying that one of the centaurs was the same as was on the news that time in Colorado?" Emily asked quietly after Jenn had told her about what she'd learned about the centaurs already when they woke up in the morning.
"Yeah, which means that world should be a shortcut back to Earth, but only if you want to be seen coming out of the gate in front of the state capital," Jenn answered, not sure if there was a better way to have put it.
However, Emily didn't seem to be worrying about that. Instead she seemed to be thinking about something else. "I've already made contact with Heathcliff, so if I meet with him again, I could let him know about that and see if there's anything he'd like to do about it. That way there could be open trade with the duchess rather than the backdoor kind," Emily said, though it seemed like she might be talking more to herself than anything else at this point. "Then I also won't have to deal with that captain and her trying to get me into her bed."
Jenn blinked at that last statement. She wasn't sure what had prompted it, but it was clear that there was an issue there that hadn't quite gotten resolved in any meaningful way.
Although, she also had a feeling that she shouldn't try to get more information about it. Whatever it is, seemed rather sensitive and she didn't think that it would be good for her to try and probe the matter. She might not like what might happen if she did.
Which meant the best course would be to pretend she didn't hear any of that. Even if Emily brought it up after this, act like she hadn't heard that before.
Eventually Emily worked out whatever it was that she'd been working through on her own, which Jenn was happy about. Especially with how it came with a change in the subject about the centaurs.
"Do you know what they have to trade?" she asked, which Jenn felt a little surprised that she hadn't mentioned that before.
"Not a clue," she replied honestly. "I was only there for a single night before I returned to this world. Though, I can at least say that they have hunters, so maybe that would be something that could be offered here."
Emily nodded, looking rather pensive. Jenn hoped that whatever she was thinking of wouldn't affect her too significantly. She certainly didn't care to have more issues to deal with in her life than she currently did. Or at least for the moment, that is.
"Well, I'm sure they'll have discussed it with the duchess enough that she'll have an idea of what she'd like and what she might benefit from. I'm sure the hunting part might be helpful to her, but I'm not sure how much the centaurs would be able to offer in regards to that."
Jenn nodded. She couldn't be sure what they'd have to offer as well. While she knew about their hunting, she couldn't say that there was much for them to hunt or not, or if they had to go a certain distance away for adequate hunting. As it wasn't like she knew much about the wildlife on the centaur's world. Just that hunting was at least a respected profession among them.
"Should I start heading to meet with the duchess now?" Jenn asked, as she started getting up, not needing to put on any clothes, since she'd slept in the clothing she'd been wearing. "It is starting to get pretty active outside."
While the inn was good for shelter, it certainly didn't do anything in way of keeping sound out. Or even the wind completely. Which meant it didn't take much for Jenn to be able to hear sounds of people out on the street going about their own business for the start of their day.
"Probably," Emily replied, making no indication that she was getting ready to get up herself. "Though it's hard to say when she'll be done with her breakfast. Some days it goes on longer than usual."
"Really?" Jenn asked, feeling rather surprised. "How do you know this?"
Emily sighed as if that was a story in and of itself. "Let's just say that I've had several meetings with her 'after breakfast.' Meetings that hardly felt like they had any point to them."
Jenn hoped that this might not turn out to be one of those kinds of meetings. She certainly wanted to feel like her meeting with the duchess was more meaningful than that.
However, she would rather wait around and be bored than be late and risk getting the duchess upset with her. She didn't think that anything bad would happen, given what Star had said, and despite herself, Jenn found that she trusted Star's judgment with whatever magic she used to know that. That things would somehow work out for her, regardless of what she chose to do.
Not that she planned on saying that out loud to anyone. Maybe Tchisa would learn about it, given the fact that she didn't seem to have the same restriction on herself of read other people's minds, including her friends and allies, but that wasn't important right then. If Tchisa did learn about it, then Jenn would need to deal with it then.
"Well, if you want, I'll meet you at the gate to the duchess' residence," Jenn said, making Emily's eyes go wide with alarm.
"Waitwaitwait! I'm up! I'm up!" Emily said, throwing her blanket off of her and scrambling to put on the clothing she'd been wearing the night before.
If Jenn did It to mess with Emily, she supposed that she'd enjoy Emily's reaction more, but instead she was merely amused at how frantic she seemed to be to get ready. Jenn suspected that Emily hadn't thought that she'd be ready to go so quickly. Which Jenn felt good about. It showed that even those who knew her better than those among her people still could be surprised by her.