"Sure, I might have been rude telling you off every time, but it was because of your constant disruption of my work that an assassin managed to sneak inside my lab and leave me a threatening note!" "It was only rational of me to react like I did when you opened that door. I thought the assassin had come to make good on their threat. I even asked you for help while we talked on the amulet, for the gods' sake!" Kalla grunted. "I'm the one who isn't making any sense?" Nyka was an undead vampire, yet her mother could perceive her blood boiling in anger. "Do you listen to yourself, Mom? According to you, I was here in this room with you-" "Right on that chair!" Kalla pointed at a dusty sofa covered in spiderwebs. "I can swear it on my love for you." "That was three months ago, Mom, but thanks for remembering that." The young vampire sighed. "Again, according to you, I was here and called you on your amulet-" "Multiple times at that." Kalla grunted. "There was no way of shutting you up." "Right, and then once you started screaming, I was suddenly out of this room and had no idea what you were talking about." Nyka rolled her eyes in frustration. "How does any of this make sense? "How can I be on this chair, on your amulet, and outside the door all at the same time?" "You make a valid point." Kalla scratched her chin with one of her claws, ruining the masterpiece of an industrious spider. "Still, I'm not making things up! I'm not crazy. Look at this!" The Wight handed the page where the lab notes stopped and the "death threat" started to the vampire. "The Awakened Council must be behind this message. They hate me because I possess the Eyes and never participated in their nonsense." "Mom, this is your handwriting." Nyka pointed out. "You wrote this. I bet this is no threat. This is how you scold me when I try to get you out of your lab. You must have written it after you received all those calls on your amulet." "You are right!" Kalla said as the memory emerged from the research-fog of her brain. "Still, why did you call me so much? Can't you just walk in and talk like a normal person?" "That's what I do, Mom!" Nyka said in outrage. "I didn't call you, and you have yet to apologize to me." "If you didn't call me, why is your rune still blinking?" Admitting to being wrong would mean that Nyka was right, which in turn would have earned Kalla a long scolding and an even longer forced break from her work. The Wight wasn't going to back down so easily. "Because that's not my rune, Mom." Nyka shoved her communication amulet in front of Kalla's snout. "This is my rune. The one blinking on your amulet is the emergency line of the Council." "You did mention something about an emergency earlier-" "Mom, I'm not a member of the Awakened Council." Nyka's red eyes burned like angry suns in the darkness of the lab. "Fine." Kalla sighed, offering her neck to the executioner. "I was wrong. I'm sorry for attacking you, baby girl. Please, be swift and merciful." "What are you talking about?" The vampire said in confusion. "Apologies accepted. Now, stop the alarm and answer the call. It might be important." "Thanks, dear." Kalla smiled, grateful to have escaped her punishment. The moment the dimensional seal of her lab was undone, the hologram popped out of the amulet again. "Kalla the Wight, if you dare hang up on me one more time, I'll expel you from the beast Council and throw you to the Dragons, are we clear?" The woman in the hologram said. "How in the Red Mother's name could you think it was me calling?" Nyka yelled in anger. "But dear, the resemblance between the two of you is uncanny, don't you think?" Feela the Behemoth and the vampire exchanged a brief look before rolling their eyes. In her human form, Feela was 1,9 meters (6'3") tall woman in her mid-thirties, with waist-long chestnut hair and a muscular yet curvy figure that made her resemble a warrior queen of old. Nyka, instead, looked like a young woman in her mid-twenties, around 1,7 meters (5'7") tall with raven black hair and emerald green eyes. Her slender figure gave her a girl-next-door vibe and belied the might of her blood core. "No, I don't." Nyka snorted. "Don't worry, Representative Feela. I'll stand witness for the duration of this call if you allow me to." "Thank the gods!" Feela raised her arms to the sky. "I mean, thank you, Vampire Nyka. As I've tried to tell your mother multiple times, I'm sorry for resorting to the emergency override, but I was left with no other choice. "She has blocked my rune and those of everyone who tried to call her on my behalf." "Mom!" Nyka glared at the Wight. "But, dear, they wouldn't stop calling." Kalla raised her paws. "They wanted the Eyes." "Is that true?" The vampire turned to Feela but held her temper in check, knowing her mother was an unreliable narrator. "No." Feela snorted. "I called Kalla once after she returned from the Golden Griffon to congratulate her, and she just blocked me. The same happened to the others as well." "Mom?" "It's possible." Kalla replied while focusing on remembering. "But I'm not sure. That doesn't sound like me, though." "I beg to differ." Nyka sighed. "What's this about?" "I'm calling on behalf of a third party." Feela explained. "The Fire Dragon clan has tried and failed to reach you from the moment they gained the Ears of Menadion. They asked me to organize a meeting with you, and I couldn't deny their request. "They are honored guests of the Council and without their Origin Flames, the work of our Forgemasters would be compromised." "I see." Nyka nodded. "What do they want?" "I don't know. They didn't tell me." Feela replied. "The Fire Dragons only asked me to intercede with Kalla and ask her if she's willing to exchange contact runes." "Am I willing, dear?" Kalla asked. "Yes, you are, Mom." Nyka nodded. "There's no telling how many Origin Flames your future experiments might need. Not to mention my and Nok's equipment." "What about Scourge? He can breathe Origin Flames, too." "Sure, but he's stingy and often busy." The vampire pointed out. "If you establish a connection with the Fire Dragon clan, instead, you can barter your services for Origin Flames, and there's always going to be one Fire Dragon available." "It makes sense. Let's exchange runes." Kalla nodded. "Thank you." Feela sighed in relief as she transmitted a new contact rune to the Wight's Council amulet. 'I'm finally done with this madness and the Fire Dragons owe me a big one.' She thought. "Please, Vampire Nyka, the next time you find yourself in the Kingdom, come visit me." Feela said. "I'd like to exchange contact runes with you. It would make any further communication with your mother less painful for everyone." "I will, thank you. Is there anything else?"