Chapter 78: Talks Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 78: Talks Behind Closed Doors

I give Kassandra a bit of time to get used to returned eyesight, then cough. She immediately snaps to attention, her face looking much livelier now, construct grafted into it notwithstanding. I hold up a conjured mirror in front of her, and her mouth opens slightly, as she traces her hand over the cheek, rubbing under her new eye lightly, then comes to scratch her nose.

"Gods above." - she whispers - "Talk about getting what you asked for..." She marvels at her new face, but then her expression snaps back into neutral. "Right. So, how do I care for them new eyes, girlie?" - she asks. Very practical of her. Sensible. I approve.

"Well, for all intents and purposes, those are your actual eyes now. Wash your face as you normally do, that should do the trick. The enchantment feeds off your own power, so until and unless you're dead, your sight is guaranteed." - I explain - "Do not try to remove the gems or the construct, they are a permanent part of your face from now on. Maybe ask the chef to prepare you a carrot salad every now and then, but other than that, don't worry about it. Now, let me show you a couple tricks you can pull with those."

"Tricks?" - she repeats uncertainly - "What kind of tricks?"

"Well, did you honestly expect me to just make boring old eyes with such intriguing materials?" - I tease, and reach out with magic, poking a certain part of the enchantment. It's been linked to her nerves, she has enough of brain power to handle a few new controls - "Feel that? See how it changes the way you see?"

"Wat... WHAT IS THIS? Why is everything so... oddly colored now?" - she yelps, blinking rapidly, as she looks around.

"This is heat vision overlay. Cold on the violet end of the spectrum, hot on the red." - I explain to her.

"Spectrum? Now what's that supposed to mean, girlie?" - she snaps back irritably - "...Oh, good gods, I can see what's hot!?"

"Rainbow, you know? Black's chilled, violet and blue are cold, green is cool, yellow is lukewarm, orange and red are hot and white is blazing." - I simplify for her, and she shudders, visibly making an effort to trigger the overlay herself.

"Well wreck me sideways and call me a banner..." - she grouses wonderingly - "And this... OOoh, let me guess. Give up on color to see the light better, aight?"

"Just so. Heat vision should help you move around in dark and figure out what is best not touched lest you burn yourself, brightness enhancement should be handy in the twilight. Now, those are mutually exclusive due to how they work. Here is the last option, and it is one you can use with all three modes." - I explain, poking the other trigger I installed - "Magic highlight vision."

"Good grief, this is how you see, isn't it?" - she muses, too flabbergasted to be properly cantankerous.

"Yes. Sort of. Unlike you, I perceive all four modes in the same time all the time. You can't, your mind only has so much devoted to sight, if I tried to make it all work in the same time, you'd go down with a headache within minutes. It goes without saying I can see so much more, but those four options are the only ones reasonably safe for a human to perceive." - I finish the explanation - "Keep this to yourself, if you please."

She snorts. "Ain't no need to point that one out, girlie. If I let it slip I can see all of them enchantments now, every gods-bedamned noble would be sharpening a knife to cut me up." - she retorts - "You're not Argyl and Marra's daughter, perchance?"

"Not that I know of, no." - I confirm blandly - "Lastly, and this is important... Those are YOUR eyes. Explicitly. Even if they got their best chirurgions to transplant the device into someone else, all they would do would render them blind. Those are for you alone. Metaphysical connections are..."

And this is where we are interrupted by a whole procession of people barging in, Alphonse at the head. I can sort of see Hiram behind him, and there are more people in the back, but all of them are blocked as Alphonse stops in the doorway and stares at Kassandra in numb surprise.

"Geter helfn mir... vos iz dos!?1 [Gods help me... what is this?] " - he exclaims, extending a shaking hand towards Kassandra's face.

At that, Abe leans forward, suddenly acutely interested. "You can actually cure blindness by replacing eyes like this?" - he inquires.

"Ahh... Well, sort of yes and sort of no, your highness." - I hedge - "You see, if it were my gems and silver, I probably wouldn't be able to, actually. The gems and the coins were given to honorable seer as compensation for her injury, and she carried them on her person for years upon years, so the gems grew very attuned to her metaphysically. So to sum it up, yes I can theoretically craft the replacement eyes, provided the recipient of those eyes receives two suitable gems and a significant part of precious metal like silver or gold, and then keeps them on their person for at least seven years. The one who gives the gems must be in some way connected to the cause of blindness, at that. For example, if you, your highness, were to reward a knight who suffered a loss of eyes in your service with the aforementioned materials, then yes, I would be able to make them a replacement set of eyes once the gems become sufficiently attuned to them. Otherwise, no, the body will simply reject the metal and gems if they are not metaphysically connected to the injury and nurtured by exposure."

Kings exchange a glance and grimace. "So..." - Alphonse proffers finally - "Not the miracle cure but something of a long-term treatment for specific cases at best, then?"

"Just so, your highness." - I agree, and he nods.

"Well, that certainly puts a different spin on it." - he muses - "Just to verify, you do consider Kassandra's payment to be rendered in full, correct?"

"Quite so." - I confirm curtly, and he nods.

"Very well. Onto the second cause for this meeting, then." - he offers and turns to Rafiqa.

"Sheikha Rafiqa bint Salaadin, I believe." - he proffers - "I do apologize for having to meet you in such clandestine fashion, but given the circumstances..."

She fidgets slightly. "It is entirely understandable, your highness." - she then offers - "Neither you nor I would like to give my father a cause to make demands of you, I imagine."

He nods - "Just so. However, this raises another question for lady Gillespie. What exactly are your intentions towards the Sultanate, pray tell?"

I shrug. "Well, as everyone present knows, I am the one who threw the curse on their nation." - I admit - "My reasons for this are twofold. Primo, I find the acceptance of slavery within the Sultanate to be a reprehensible and evil trait that I desire to uproot. Secundo, I am planning on using the circumstances to force Sultanate into ceding enough of Thousand Isles to me to claim as my own domain."

I pause and nod to Gerard - "As it stands, one of my brothers will be the primogenitor to inherit the Gillespie domain, and since I'm not marrying into another domain, I need to conquer my own. I believe Thousand Isles would suffice for my plans."

"Ambitious." - Alphonse mutters - "Presuming your plan works, would you be adverse to opening negotiations for extended trade? There is a number of exotic wares in the isles I wouldn't mind seeing more of in my kingdom, and my people would pay good money for southern goods."

"Certainly not, your highness. As a matter of fact, I am currently preparing a nucleus of my own trading fleet to achieve just that." - I agree - "Obviously, I would offer the first pick of deals to my liege, but I am not in any way opposed to expanding the trade with the kingdom of Kraut within reason. However, I would ask of you all to table the exact negotiations until I am actually in control of the isles and determine just what wares and in what quantity could be offered. No point in splitting the hide of a bear I've yet to spear."

He nods, and at slight nudging from Hiram, changes the topic - "Well, this is all well and good, but the question of sheikha Rafiqa remains. How exactly do you see the situation with Sultanate unfolding on that front?"

"I'm sure you are aware, your highness, that it is common to send a relative as a guarantee of peace in such negotiations." - I offer - "Once the Sultanate is pressed hard enough to break, one of my conditions for lifting the curse would be that sheikha Rafiqa serves as such guarantee of peace. It would be very convenient if the kingdom of Kraut could host sheikha at such time as a neutral third party. And if a certain crownprince might fall for an exotic princess in that time, why, I can hardly believe such a union would be seen as undesirable."

There's a lot of knowledgeable winks and tongue clicking at that. "Well, that is certainly a rosy picture you're painting, Lady Gillespie." - Alphonse admits finally - "And, of course, as the one who brokered the union to begin with, you can expect to count on that certain crownprince and exotic princess to hold you in high esteem."

"Within the reason, your highness." - I softpedal it - "That certain crownprince would become a king one day, he does have an obligation to hold the kingdom's interests first and foremost after all. It would be quite unwise of me to ask for concessions that would bring the kingdom to harm. On the other hand, there is always space for mutually profitable trade and cooperation between people who understand and like each other, isn't it so?"