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[Chikara Nadir]

The only reaction Selena received initially was a heavy "mrrph" stifled by the other woman's head stuffed deep into a pillow. Well, she could be a heavy sleeper when she wanted to, with no priests to wake her bright and early to go to temple ceremony and no nightmares of evil shadow creatures bent on destroying her empire. A girl could get used to this.

"Do I need to go? I can just hide under a blanket, they'd never find me…or I could change my appearance, you can say I'm visiting from some far off land." Sharp nails dug deep into the bearskin rug as the woman pushed her weight into the palms of her hands, pulling herself slowly upright. In the first rays of morning light her hair glowed like a scarlet halo - sticking up a few inches higher than it should have in every direction.

Wait. It was morning. Uh oh. "Shhhh-" Chikara quickly dove forward, grasping in the covers for some sign of her own night attire. Selena was used to wearing thicker clothes, they were easier to find bundled up in a corner. Other than her woven afghan, she wasn't finding much of anything that looked like acceptable Koridaian dress. "I'm late, Imlate…nonono."

The goddess was behaving like anything but, searching the floorboards for something that wasn't there while wearing only her natural assets. "Selena," Chikara gaped for air as she tried to orient herself this early in the day. "I impressed into you a fresh dose of Lazu's power, you know this much. Yes, you should be stronger for a time, physically and psychically. Assume it's also a renewed link to me. If you ever need to communicate - and I'm not busy killing off a small civilization - I will return the call without question. Whether I can hear you thinking at any other time, well…that's for me to know."

She took one final glance around the room, and finally grabbed for one of the longer bearskins to wrap around herself as a blanket. She'd be able to appear back in her own chambers in Koridai anyway, so there was no point in being too concerned over her appearance. Her maids might be a bit curious, though…

"Anyway. We need to get together again soon. Figure out what we're both sensing in the Cursed Lands and hope it doesn't find us first." Chikara spoke somewhat casually on the subject - it might be a threat, but more so to her people than ever her own safety. "Oh, and maybe tell me what you think you found on that little adventure you just returned from. I don't need to have supreme powers to know you have some silly new plan up your sleeve."

"And one last thing…" the barely covered woman ran on tiptoes over to Selena and, with a hint of a smile, pressed her lips close to the Calatian's ear to whisper three short words. No, not those words. It was a secret only Lena was allowed to know.

"Until then." Chik bowed her head out of courtesy, blowing a quick kiss before she and the single bearskin entirely disappeared.

[Selena]

Selena remained frozen after Chik's departure, those three little not-so-sweet words echoing in her mind for many minutes before the anger welled up from the depths of her being and reached the surface. The fact that Chikara had stolen one of her blankets - created from a large grizzly that Selena had hunted down herself - was not helping matters. Selena grabbed one of her pillows and hurled it against the far wall as hard as she could, a few feathers taking flight after escaping their cloth prison. The identity of Chikara's new heir was, of course, upsetting, but that paled in comparison to the circumstances surrounding their 'anointing.' Had Chikara gone completely mad during Selena's absence? This was a horrible idea for a large number of reasons, and not all of them personal.

And yet, it was also rather funny. Chikara was setting herself up for a world of suffering, and this time Selena had nothing to do with it. After all the hell Chik had given her about 'horrible' plans back during her days as an apprentice, it would be sweet to see Chikara fail spectacularly now that Selena wasn't there to bail her out of trouble. There was another bonus, too. Her decision would stress the very foundations of her Quadrate. They'd all start fighting amongst themselves, and Koridai would be weaker as a result. Selena could wipe the floor with them in battle.

...Still. It was a bad idea. Not good at all.

Stupid woman. And I do hope you can hear that.

There was a faint but distinct sound of girlish laughter in her head, and Selena figured that that was Chik taking joy in the distress she had caused.

Selena went to her wardrobe and removed her more casual attire. She had no plans on going into combat, so the armor would just get in the way. She pulled on her leather pants, dark blue dress jacket, and boots, and then exited her room. She was.... well, she'd worked up an appetite and was starving. A quick trip to Snowpeak's dining hall secured some late morning breakfast. She sat down at a table and crossed her legs. Whilst eating some hash with a glass of mead, Selena read the morning news flyer and caught up on some of her correspondence. The Peak province had been fortified for the coming war thanks to wisp's efforts in construction, and several of her major combat groups had moved into position on the borderlands. Koridai was still silent, and that bothered her.

There were other matters to take care of, so Selena cleaned up her things and went to her office to finish up some reports.

"I thought I hired other people to do this shit for me," Selena whispered to herself as she wrote out a long document for one of her officers. "Lazy, good for nothing freeloaders. I should be out stabbing something. Somebody. Somebody in particular."

And there, on her desk, was conspicuous letter that had not been there the night before. She picked it up and skimmed it over. She scowled at the contents, but that meeting would be too interesting to pass up. ...Best to go back to her room and polish up that armor, just in case.