"So... did he speak your language even once during the meeting?"
"...No."
A day after, the cenleon princes gathered for a meeting with Joseph Hayden — it was initially going to be a public meeting with everyone and anyone free to watch it. Joseph, however, disapproved of this, seeing as the cenleons were not yet even starting to acclimate themselves to the culture of the Surface, and the people might misunderstand their intentions.
And so, they just had a meeting at the hotel where Rhys and the others were staying at, where they rented an entire 3 floors.
Joseph's worries were unfounded, however, as the meeting just went on smoothly with Rhys relaying what each side wanted to say expertly and swiftly.
And as soon as the meeting was done and Joseph left for his office, Rhys immediately went to Edissa to try and check if Joseph spoke their language even once.
Edissa, however, just shook her head and sighed, "Maybe I just misheard since I was too nervous? It was my first time actually seeing the world you live in, after all."
"...Maybe," Rhys placed his hand on his chin before glancing back at Edissa, "But in the chance that you are right, I am going to treat the Mayor like he knows your language — and that also means he knows a lot more other things. But... that doesn't really change anything, he's always been a weird eccentric man."
Rhys could really only sigh as he now had more things to think about.
"Yo, Big Man. How'd the meeting go!?"
"Nikki," Fortunately for Rhys, Dominique's loud voice woke him up from his stupor before he could even lose himself, "I thought you and the others were going to explore the city? We're going back to our place in a few hours."
"Yeah, no..." Dominique rolled her lips and scoffed while shaking her head, "...The others are completely knocked out. It's the first time in a very long time they're experiencing a large bed all on their own, not to mention a private bath. I also spent like hours inside, and god... It's like I'm back from the dead."
"You are," Rhys smiled, "You'll be given new identities soon."
"...What about the grandma?" Dominique squinted her eyes as she tried to look for Talia anywhere.
"That's not an option for her," Rhys let out a large breath, "She is too well-known. And she also doesn't want to. She said that the only way she's going to be useful to me is that people know who she is and what she did."
"She's really the most hardcore grandma I have ever seen. The hottest one too. Do you think she has a granddaughter? Or maybe a great-granddaughter? Yo, imagine if you met her great-granddaughter and fuck her too."
"Nikki, stop," Rhys shook his head and sighed, "You should just get ready. The trucks will be here in a few hours, it's going to be a long ride."
"What? I thought we were going to ride the helo again?"
"The cenleons requested that we travel by land," Rhys shrugged, "I think they want to enjoy the trip, instead of feeling sick in the air the entire time."
"Huh... does that mean..." Dominique looked Rhys in the eyes, "...We can actually order some drive-thru?"
And she is beautiful, and there is a fierceness on her which was almost similar to Princess Agatha, but Talia's is more arrogant, brazen even. Older women truly are different from Lina and the others.
"Give that back to me, Rhys," Talia seemed intoxicated, however—no. Not seemed, she is; it was obvious from the look of the bartender as well as the empty bottles beside them on the bar.
"We're leaving in a few hours, Talia — you're going to end up puking in the car," Rhys sighed as he refused to give the glass back to her, "Rest."
"Is that your order, Fuhrer? My Fuhrer?" Talia placed her finger on Rhys's chest, letting it crawl up his neck and onto his lips, "My handsome little Fuhrer."
"I'm not ordering you, I'm just telling you that you had too much to drink."
"Ack, lass miche einfach in ruhe!" Talia rolled her eyes and groaned as she let her head fall on top of the bar counter, "I've missed the taste of this, of all of this. All I had in prison was hooch, that tastes like gasoline mixed with azz."
And once again, Rhys could not see the arrogant, and extremely confident Talia. She already told Rhys that she was alright, but it would seem that after spending most of her life in prison, Talia truly was...
"...Are you scared, Talia?"
"What?" Talia scoffed as she looked at Rhys, "Why would I be scared, me?"
"You don't have to be, you know," Rhys then gestured to the bartender to get the glass. Talia was going to grab it, but Rhys just sat beside her and gently grabbed her arm, "What you did in the past matters, but what matters most is what you will do now."
"Look at you," Talia chuckled, "So young, and so idealistic. As expected of my Fuhrer."
Talia then sat up again before wrapping her arms around Rhys neck, pulling him away from the bar as she started swaying her body.
"Come, Rhys — dance with me," Talia then pointed at the band that was playing mellow music, and as soon as she did so, they started playing a tune of smooth blues.
"I... don't really dance," Rhys shook his head. But still, he also moved along with Talia as he looked him in the eyes and started moving his feet along with her.
"Muzt be so nice being so handsome and strong," Talia moved her lips closer to Rhys, "Your life must have been easy."
"Maybe," Rhys breathed out, "I was only beaten half to death almost everyday. They burned my skin, broke my bones, humiliated me all because I'm a Lowborn."
"But it made you the man you are today. It made me the woman I am today," Talia closed her eyes.
"No, it killed me," Rhys shook his head as he placed his hand on Talia's back and pulled her even closer, "Who you see now is a completely different person. If it was me before, I would have wished you dead."
"Oh...?" Talia smiled, "Well, whoever you are — you triumphed."
"Did I?"
"And you will again, my Fuhrer," Talia held Rhys's cheek, "Now... how about you really help me relieve some stress, and let's get out of here?"