With the shopping run completed, it was now time for us to continue on with our real goals. We had to go meet with Pototangaros at her palace. At the moment, I was a bit torn on what I thought was going to happen once we got there. Of the two masters that we had visited so far, both had been quite helpful and open. However, the only issue was that one had a reputation for being nice and the other was, unfortunately, my father. I didn’t really have much intel on Pototangaros and her descendants weren’t too insightful. Two had been very nice and extremely friendly, the others had tried to murder the entire group.

I sat up a bit, looking over at Sylak. He was still just sitting in his chair, stitched and bloody expression face seemingly deep in thought. I then looked up to the window of vision. The group was swimming towards the palace in the center of the city now. There weren’t many people around right now since it was so late. The lights above were far dimmer than before and the street lamps were glowing faintly.

I thought to myself for a moment and then stood up, facing directly towards the window of vision. “Jester! Hey!”

She stopped and the group looked back at her. “Yes?” she answered.

“Can you ask the group if they have any information about Lady Pototangaros?” I asked.

She seemed to ponder it for a moment, looking around, before turning to the group. “The green kitten wants to know if the three of you have any information on Pototangaros.”

They seemed to mutter amongst themselves for a bit, almost like they didn’t really trust Jester yet. I wouldn’t blame them. I still wasn’t very sure of that myself. After some light discussion, they turned back to her. “Honestly, no one really knows anything about her, not even the people at Camp II. She’s one of the most reclusive of the masters next to Malistryfe.”

I slumped back in my chair. It was quite annoying that we had to go in to this with such little information. It was always good to know whether or not it was going to be a troublesome experience or not. The masters seemed to be talking, so at this point, it seemed more like a formality to meet with them, but it was still a good idea to do so just to make sure they knew who they would be working with. Even if she was reclusive, she would have to understand the importance of this mission to not just us apprentices, but the masters and really everything on the earth.

I also wanted to meet with more of the masters to try and learn more about them and the history of this world. I was pretty sure there were some things that a lot of people wouldn’t really be able to find out without meeting with the masters themselves and asking about the past. On top of that, Luminitrious had provided me with more questions than answers when we’d talked.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by shouting coming from outside. Someone was shouting something along the lines of, “Your tiny hat looks stupid!”

I saw the window fixate on them and narrow. “You wanna come over here and say that to my face, you mouth-breathing prick?! I’ll rip your fucking spine out of your ass!”

I grit my teeth sharply and stood up. “Jester! That is not how you talk to people, young lady!”

“I’m sorry, mom. He was being a dick, so I said something to him. Can’t take it back,” she said, clearly rolling her eyes.

“Yes you can. You can apologize,” I growled.

“I don’t do apologies. I do what I believe in, hon.”

I glared at the window, wanting to punch it angrily, but knowing it wouldn’t do anything. She was parading around in my body. If it got hurt, that fell on my shoulders as much as it did hers. I was just starting to feel a bit less drained and I didn’t want to go back in to my body with it covered in cuts and bruises. Or worse, I didn’t want her getting us locked up for killing someone.

I sighed and flopped back down in my chair. She clearly had no regard for the consequences of her actions. Despite the fact she had the memories and experiences of Sylak and I, she seemed to not have learned anything from them.

The group swam along in silence for a bit of time before the palace finally came in to view in the distance. Once we got closer we were met once again with a sight of true beauty and amazement. The center of the palace was similar to the main building at Camp II. It was a large glass sphere with tendrils of different kinds of blue glass snaking up around it, meeting at a point just underneath the large orb in the center of the city. Of course, as described, there were arches all over the constructions making it seem, in some places, like the palace had scales.

The closer we got, the more you could see and the more I realized just how massive the palace really was. The palace was probably somewhere around a tenth of the entire city. It put everything around it to shame which was definitely saying something quite profound. I couldn’t help but be impressed.

In the front of the palace, at the entrance, much like all around the rest of the palace, there was a small bubble with an ornate waterfall on top, something I was currently questioning the logistics of. I decided not to pay it much attention because we were getting to the entrance and the woman at the front was stopping the group. She was dressed much like many of the others in the city in a flowing blue robe with a subtle pattern to it. The different was that she wore a deathly serious expression and a gold shoulder plate. Sitting next to her in her booth was what looked like a very deadly trident.

“What business have you here at the palace of Lady Pototangaros?” She asked in a tone to match her expression.

I prayed to Sengario that Jester wouldn’t say anything stupid, but she seemed to be staying quiet.

“We’re here to meet with Lady Pototangaros. We’ve been sent from Camp VII with some extremely vital information. We need to speak with her at once,” Julian answered.

She pondered this moment before shaking her head. “I’m sorry to inform you, but Lady Pototangaros is currently out on a fishing expedition. I am unaware of when she will return. If your message is truly urgent, I will allow you to enter and wait inside until she arrives, if you would like.”

Lilith looked down at the sword at her side. “Uh… Should I leave this with you? Security and all?”

The guard looked at her for a moment before letting out a hearty laugh. “My dear, there is very little any of you could do to the Master of Water while in the ocean, her home territory,” she said gesturing around us.

I knew that she was right about it, but she still didn’t have to be so snarky about it all. The group huffed and then proceeded inside where they found a sight just as beautiful as the outside. Inside of the palace, right as you entered, you noticed the ornately designed floors made of different color stained glass and the glowing blue river that lay underneath. It was so blue and so bright it almost looked like pure water essence was flowing underneath of us. I marveled as Jester immediately turned her attention elsewhere, not giving me much time to enjoy the floor.

“Well well, she has certainly earned her recognition for the mastery of architecture. This place is absolutely gorgeous in so many ways,” she said.

The group nodded in agreement, spotting a bench on a side wall and going to sit down in it. Jester decided to continue standing. The group gave her odd looks which I thought was strange. She was just standing. There was nothing wrong with that.

“Alright, listen Jester. We have some things that we need to talk about with you,” said Lilith.

I swallowed hard, a bit nervous about what exactly they wanted to know. Jester looked up at the ceiling, not even bothering to make eye contact. “I figured as much,” she answered casually. “What is it you’d like to know?” She flopped to the floor and looked directly at the group.

They were a bit thrown off by this, but continued on nonetheless. “Well, I think the first thing that we would like to confirm is that you are actually just another one of Avien’s alternate personalities. After all, none of us were conscious when you just sort of appeared.”

Jester scratched her head. “I do suppose that is quite a fair concern, especially in a world such as this. Alright. How do you propose that I prove my identity to the three of you then?”

Lilith thought for a moment. “Well, as cliché as it may sound, simply tell us something that only Avien would know and that, of course, the three of us would know as well.”

Jester rolled her eyes. “Easy enough. Hear that, green kitten! I’ll be letting the dragon know something about you. Better hope I don’t expose any of your deep dark secrets.”

I hissed. I knew she was joking, but she didn’t have to be so annoying about it. There wasn’t really much I would want to hide from them anyway, right?

“But anyway, I suppose the easiest thing to explain is that you met Avien in an alley in his home city. He somewhat ‘met’ Julian shortly after when he went flying through a wall. Is that good enough.”

Lilith looked to Julian who simply shrugged. “Yes, I suppose that’s good enough. There are very few people who even know where we met him let alone the fact that Julian was there too. Anyway, our next question is whether or not you’re actually going to help on our quest.”

Jester seemed to think about this one for some time. I was honestly quite interested in the answer as well given Sylak’s take on that same matter. Finally, she gave an answer that put me at ease. “I wouldn’t say that, but much like the purple kitten, I have no intention of impeding your quest in any way. The only reason I’m still here is really just that the green kitten is still a bit exhausted and I wanted to have some time to stretch my legs for the first time in forever. I imagine I’ll be going back inside this head pretty soon. He wants to complete this mission, not me. His survival is mine, so if I get in the way, I only make things harder for myself.”

Her place on the issue was essentially the same as Sylak’s, so it was very relieving to hear. Then they asked a question that I hadn’t really been expecting.

“So like, how are you able to totally change yourself?”

Everyone looked at Viktor causing his hands to shoot up in a defensive manner. “I’m just wondering! It’s a valid question!”

Jester sighed. “The simple explanation is that, because our mind and bodies are tied together more than many others, we can actually shape the way we look. We can’t create anything new, so we can only really redistribute the existing matter like you see here. That way, I can create a more ideal form to fit myself.”

“I thought you already looked good when you were Avien…” Viktor grumbled.

Lilith elbowed him in the arm. “Hey! I’m just saying! Y’all know what I like…”

“Oh? Is that so? And what do you like, my dear?” Jester asked, narrowing her eyes.

Before she was able to get an answer, a loud sound boomed throughout the palace causing the group to look around frantically. After a second or two, a torrent of magical energy came washing over the entire group. It was so strong I could feel it inside of my mind. Pototangaros had returned.