The next morning, Ais woke early. She had rarely shared a bed with anyone since childhood, and sleeping in close quarters had always made her a light sleeper. She glanced at Zoe Freya, who was sound asleep with her arms around her, and shook her head with a quiet sigh:
Is this normal?
In fairness, all Zoe had done last night was run her hands over the upper half of Ais's body for a while before they both settled down. Whether that was the Witch's charm at work or simply Zoe being at the age where she needed that kind of closeness, Ais genuinely couldn't say.
I just wanted to find myself a makeup tutor, and somehow I ended up sharing a bed with a best friend overnight… Ais thought about the conversation they'd had, which had somehow gone on all evening — she'd even picked up a fair amount of gossip about Zoe's friends.
When had she become so interested in other people's personal business? How?
Since the sun probably hadn't risen yet, Ais suppressed the urge to poke Zoe's cheek — because it really was very tempting when the woman was lying this close, sleeping this soundly — and lay quietly with her eyes closed.
After a while, she took stock: aside from helping Zoe with household chores, she had nothing particularly pressing to attend to right now.
The Moen events were only half a month behind her. Better to keep a lower profile and hold off on playing the role of "Witch" for a while longer. The church was still cracking down, but she should never try to predict what fanatics were thinking by the standards of normal people.
As for casting materials — whether for spells or for making a proper wand — those could only be sourced through the Extraordinary community. But she should wait until she had properly aged her disguise before making contact there. It wasn't foolproof, but it was better than nothing. What if the Witch cult's devoted followers were too blinded by fantasy to consider the possibility that some Witches deliberately made themselves look plain?
Then there was Rosselle the Great's diary — though that circulated almost exclusively within Extraordinary circles too. Ais thought it over for a while and eventually decided to continue being a productive layabout and sleep a little longer.
But that plan resulted in her still being asleep when Zoe came in carrying breakfast.
"Ais! You lazybones! Get up and eat!" Zoe called loudly into her ear.
This achieved only a roll to the other side and a closed-eyes reply:
"No. I want to lie here a bit longer. Just leave it on the nightstand."
Zoe had actually woken her once already when getting up — but since she'd left quietly and the only transgression had been a sneaky poke at Ais's cheek, Ais had magnanimously let it go.
"What kind of great detective sleeps in?"
Zoe tried to pull her upright. Ais didn't move and argued back shamelessly:
"But I don't have anything to do yet. So, Zoe — don't forget what you promised me. Otherwise I'll have nothing better to do than lie here and help with the housework."
"Eat breakfast first, Ais. Like this, are you planning to do housework from bed?"
"Before noon I can—"
Before Ais could finish, Zoe, out of patience, slapped her palm directly onto Ais's chest.
This had an immediate effect. Ais sat up at once. She was just about to complain when a piece of bacon was stuffed into her mouth.
Zoe handed her the plate, took the opportunity to pat Ais on the head, and made a quick exit, leaving only her retreating back.
Rude… Ais registered a minor internal protest and made a note to ambush her back later at noon, then focused on the fried egg and bacon.
The next few days, Ais turned down Zoe's suggestions to buy her some clothes or go back for clean laundry, and simply stayed in her nightgown in the manner of a dedicated homebody.
Other than cooking and washing up with Zoe, she practically never came downstairs. If it hadn't felt too much like being kept, she wouldn't have come down at all.
Days were spent in the second-floor sitting room reading novels, tormenting Hammond, or sleeping in bed. Every evening, before Zoe came up, she'd tidy the room and then sit with Zoe to refine her makeup technique — making sure she could eventually achieve the deliberately plain look with Zoe's specialty products on her own.
April 1st. Midday.
Ais was enjoying her meal when she noticed Zoe beside her looking like she wanted to say something and couldn't quite start. With her hands occupied, she nudged Zoe with her foot and asked with her mouth full:
"Zoe, are you in some kind of trouble?"
Zoe glanced at Ais — seated with her typical complete disregard for presentation — hesitated a moment, then spoke:
"It's not that, exactly. You did say to keep an eye out for potential clients, didn't you? Yesterday or the day before, I heard something fairly strange from Mrs. Polina:
Someone in the West District has been looking for a capable detective for help — but without specifying what they actually want. Several detectives apparently tried to take on this reasonably-paying commission and were each turned down with a polite 'not quite the right fit,' but no explanation of why."
A condition linked to the supernatural, too awkward to spell out clearly… Ais kept eating while saying:
"Sounds like a commission you'd need to get lucky to crack. Did Mrs. Polina share any more specific details about the client, Zoe?"
"She mentioned the family used to follow the God of Steam and Machinery, but after the war they converted to the Goddess rather than return to Intis."
In that case, they'd have a genuine reason to avoid going to the church about it… Having made up her mind to go and investigate for the Church of the Evernight Goddess 's benefit, Ais turned to Zoe:
"Could I trouble you to pass on the word, Zoe? I'd like to try my luck."
"Don't you think it sounds like a trap, Ais? That's what made me hesitate about telling you."
Zoe looked at her with clear disapproval.
"As long as you're not greedy, a trap stops being a problem. And besides — haven't you been telling me I have no sense of presentation? This is a good excuse to get dressed and go out."
In fact, Zoe had already completed the specialty makeup products the previous day. Ais was still a little clumsy at applying the freckles so they looked natural — but that was a matter of practice.
Even if Ais in her nightgown was still perfectly presentable, Zoe had never been able to stand watching Ais go through life completely indifferent to her own appearance. So she agreed readily:
"You have a point. Just be careful out there, Ais."
And so, after finishing lunch, Ais — skin no longer quite so luminous, face now lightly freckled — put on her brown-yellow plaid coat and matching deerstalker cap again, and followed the rough direction Zoe had given toward what might be her first official case as a detective.
West District. Near Green Park.
After asking a number of helpful passersby — and earning a fair number of surprised looks along the way — Ais found the address of her potential client: the Femi family.
After observing for a while and confirming that the woman of the house gave off nothing resembling the Witch's presence, and running a divination to be sure, Ais finally knocked on the Femi family's door.
The door was opened by a maidservant wearing an expression of careful wariness. Before she could speak, Ais said:
"Hello — my name is Ais Fal. I'm a detective. I heard you might need someone's help?"
The maidservant hadn't yet replied when the mistress of the house called down immediately from the second floor:
"Yes, Detective Fal. Please wait a moment — I'll come down right away."
At that moment, Ais's acute Witch hearing caught a faint and unusual sound: a young male voice repeating quietly to himself:
"The detective downstairs will be of real use to us."
A divination-capable Extraordinary — this probably isn't a setup. Having heard seven repetitions followed by silence, Ais recognized exactly what that was.
Mrs. Femi's approaching footsteps followed, accompanied by a voice noticeably warmer than before:
"Please come in, Detective Fal. We've been hoping for your help."
I wonder if you'd be startled to learn I'm a Church of the Evernight Goddess informant… Ais thought as she replied:
"The pleasure is mine, ma'am."
Author's Note (this chapter):Since the sun probably hadn't risen yet, Ais suppressed the urge to poke Zoe's cheek — because it really was very tempting when the woman was lying this close, sleeping this soundly.