The conference room was the heart of the Order of the Golden Rose. An ornate, circular table, fashioned from stone and inlaid with various decorations, all polished and blending into one smooth surface, stood at the centre of it. It was old, having been in possession of the Brightons for several hundred years. The room around it, a hall laid from stone in the style of a luxurious medieval chamber, was not quite as old. Considering that the Brightons had moved to America relatively recently, however, the uninitiated would be surprised how old the mansion was. The Lord-Protector had it moved to the other side of the earth by various means.

‘The honoured Lord was prone to certain displays of grandeur before he was threatened to be upstaged,’ Lorelei thought, while she followed Moira before the table. Only William Brighton and his trusted butler Reginald were present. No other knights had been called to the meeting.

The Lord-Protector’s aura was a complicated mixture of various colours. Like all in the Order, his soul contained notable amounts of the light grey of discipline and dedication. Gold of conviction was present in a manner that was either equal or more, the shifting made it difficult to get a clear read, and several colours often hid under the surface. The white of honour was much less pronounced in him than in his daughter. It clashed with the flickers of black, betraying the potential to ignore what was right for what he desired to be done. Underneath roiled a reddish purple, angered royalty and pride. It had always been there but was more pronounced recently. A stagnant prismatic line wound through, showing what remained of the blessing that had once taken hold of him.

“Come here, Warden Moira,” William ordered.

“Yes, Lord-Protector,” Moira obeyed, giving her friend a worried glance as she made her way around the table. When she stopped next to her father’s seat, the butler took a deliberate step backwards. It wouldn’t have been right for a servant to stand as close to the leader as his successor did.

Lorelei folded her hands in front of her and remained straight. Standing alone on the opposite side of the table was far from pleasant, but she had known this would happen eventually. Not because of any vision, seers were barely ever granted visions pertaining to themselves. It only took knowledge of how the order worked to realize that she would be questioned eventually.

“Lorelei of house Varnik,” William started the inquisition in the formal fashion, “your house has served the Brightons and the Order of the Golden Rose loyally for generations. There can be no doubt about the honour of your house and of yourself. Your visions have prevented vile assassination attempts and sabotage, saved hundreds by revealing to us how we best advance our troops, and informed us of the holy generation. You have done all of this without ever asking for your own enrichment, nor have acted in a way that suspiciously ended up advancing your own welfare. Truly, the Lady has blessed us with a seer like you.”

“You honour me, Lord-Protector.” Lorelei accepted the compliments with a bow. She knew that all of this was a preamble. Luckily, this was a kind of pressure she had long learned to withstand.

“Yet, with all of that said, recent developments are causing me worry,” William led into what this was truly about. “As you very well know, we will meet with John Newman, the Gamer, tomorrow. His interest in you is evident. Your interest in him is similarly clear… and ill-advised.” The many character traits on display in his soul were tinged by a simple green colour: worry. Worry for her or worry for losing her, that Lorelei couldn’t say for certain. “It does not suit a seer chosen by the Lady to fall in love with a sinner such as him. Because of this, it would be wisest if you stayed in your quarters during the meeting.”

“No,” Lorelei responded.

The surfaces of all three souls on the other side of the table crystallized for a moment. Their shock was almost as strong as Lorelei’s nervousness. She was used to being questioned and ordered. Disobedience was not something she had any practice in. She clutched the skirt of her mundane dress, felt the ring on her left hand, and waited for the inevitable reaction.

“No?!” Lord Brighton thundered. The stagnant prismatic remains in his soul flared, channelling the Lady’s power. “Lorelei Varnik, your service in the Order is of great importance, but you are not in a position to disregard my orders. Especially not when the subject is your safety from a sinner!” The radiance boosted the authority of his voice and nourished a sliver of pink in his soul.

“With all due respect, the honoured Gamer may be a sinner by our standards, but he has the favour of the Lady,” Lorelei pushed back, her voice steady while her body trembled. “His powers and the clothes she has gifted him prove this. Her physical avatar even appeared before us in Florida to conjure a test for both him and the honoured Warden. Beyond this, his sins are primarily related to his sexual behaviour. He does not mean harm to the world.”

“He aided demons,” the Lord-Protector pushed back.

“Only because he wished to save those who he would have deemed innocent,” Lorelei responded swiftly, having known this argument would come. “He did it not for his gain, but to protect who he could. Is that not what we would demand of our own leaders?”

“You’re naïve if you think him such a good person.”

“With all due respect, Lord-Protector, I have seen the honesty of his soul,” the seer pushed back yet again, even if she felt like her legs were about to give in. “He is a man of pride and he may be willing to bend the rules to achieve what he deems right, but he is sincere about wanting the best for the most people.”

There was silence in the room while everyone waited with baited breath for the Lord-Protector’s response. His fingers danced on the smooth surface of the table; his fingerprints became the only dirt on the perfectly polished surface. “You will not stay in your quarters willingly, then?”

“I will not stay in my quarters,” Lorelei confirmed, already considering how she could escape should he position guards. Physically she was in no state to resist, but there would be a way to see the Gamer. She was certain of it.

“Father, may I speak?” Moira raised her voice.

“Go ahead,” Lord Brighton said with a tired wave. The discussion was taking a toll on him as well.

“Although I fully understand your rationale for keeping Lorelei away from John Newman, I must say that I find it unwise. When it comes to finding out whether he is telling the truth or not, she is our greatest asset. Besides,” Moira took a short pause and looked over to her friend with something between worry and resignation in her soul, “as you correctly observed, their attraction is mutual. It would doubtlessly serve to sour our negotiations, should he find out that we kept them apart deliberately.”

Still, the leader’s fingers tapped on the stone. Lorelei’s knuckles were white from strain, when she spoke up, “I implore you, Lord-Protector, to not separate me from him.”

Finally, the tapping came to an end and the older man placed his hand flatly on the table. “In honour of your years of diligent service and my daughter’s advice, I will consider foregoing this approach.” The seer’s hands relaxed for just a moment. “If you answer me what you think your future with the Gamer is.”

“I…” Lorelei hesitated. How could she possibly answer this? She wasn’t absolutely certain that he was the purple and golden man, so she could only speculate on the future. Honesty was the only way she could convey this. “Years ago, I went through an ancient ritual, passed down through the Varnik library. Its purpose was to reveal to me who my first true love would be.”

“And the answer was John Newman?” William interrupted in a baffled tone.

“The answer was vague and describes more a situation than a man definitively,” Lorelei answered, blushing at the mere thought of revealing the words of the prophecy. “John Newman and his h-harem are the only ones I have met so far that will fit, however. Beyond that, the Lady’s avatar assured me that I would find my true love before the end of this year.”

This revelation only surprised two people on the other end of the table. In one of their private moments, Lorelei had entrusted all of this to Moira. The Shield Warden was clearly repressing a sigh.

“So, you will indulge in his sinful way of loving?” the Lord-Protector asked. “Be one of many women of that pervert?”

“If it is a sinful way of loving, then I shall endure,” Lorelei responded. “If it is a sinful way of debauchery, then I won’t have anything to do with it.”

“It is love that you seek?”

“True love,” Lorelei confirmed with a strong nod. “It is all I ever yearned for, outside of service to the Lady.”

“And what if the two are in conflict?” the Lord-Protector asked. “What if our talks with the Gamer fall through and the Order of the Golden Rose will fight with the Fusion Federation?”

“My loyalty is always with the Order, Lord-Protector,” Lorelei answered sincerely. “Through the Lady I have come to know who I will love dearly and the Lady’s will I serve until my body crumbles, like my ancestors have before me and like my children shall after me. The Varnik name will not become one of treachery by my actions.”

William took a deep breath and looked to his daughter. She answered with pleading eyes. Even if neither of them agreed with her course of action, they did begrudgingly accept the seer’s autonomy. “You will not be confined to your quarter’s during the meeting,” the Lord-Protector finally promised.

“Thank you, Milord,” Lorelei said and lowered her head deeply.

“Since you have assured your loyalty in the case of conflict, I would like to know what you envision to happen if we come to any kind of agreement with the Fusion Federation,” William continued the inquisition.

Lorelei kept her head down, while her mind rattled. This was the moment to ask for the truly outrageous favour. Up until now, she only had to defend what she would have normally been allowed to do anyway. “Should the Order of the Golden Rose come to an agreement with Fusion… I would ask to be sent to the Hudson Barrier to serve as our ambassador.”

Moira couldn’t repress her sigh this time around and it occurred in perfect synchronicity with her father. After everything else he had heard, this request did not surprise the Lord-Protect anymore. “You wish to be by his side,” he said the quiet part out loud.

“Being half a continent away from him will not serve either the formation or the continuation of our love,” Lorelei responded straightforwardly, fidgeting where she stood. “I accept that this is unorthodox.”

“Unorthodox is a light way to put it,” William mumbled and stroked his bearded chin. Seers were practically never allowed to leave on diplomatic missions, particularly not the lengthy kind. Communicating a vision to the leadership swiftly could be the difference between life and death. Because of this and the typical fragility of the seers, by Abyssal standards, they were always where the strongest members of the Order were located. They were too rare and valuable to leave unguarded by anyone but the Warden themselves.

“Should the honoured Gamer prove a good ally, there will be no need to fear for my safety,” Lorelei argued, while the Lord-Protector continued to think. “He is known to… to take…” she cleared her throat. Her weight shifted from one leg to the other and back. She kneaded the cloth of her skirt. She stammered. “…t-t-to take… to be very pro-protective of his women.” She swallowed and continued with the easier point. “Modern communication devices will allow me to send any visions I receive to you no matter the distance. Further, I-“

“Enough,” the Lord-Protector interrupted her, “…enough… This meeting ends here. I can make no definitive promises until we have negotiated with the Gamer. Know that I will consider it.”

“Thank you, honoured Lord-Protector,” Lorelei expressed her gratitude. She meant it. This would be no small sacrifice for the Order to make.