An Owl's Rise

Several hours went by and Maeve's introduction party ended as a resounding success for the young mistress of the Taidale Family.

Despite her grandaunt and the Sect's Leader being absent for most of the party, she had managed to make some valuable connections.

As for those that clearly had malicious intent, Lucia had made sure to verbally tear them apart and make them think twice about trying to entrap Maeve in any nefarious plans.

Evelyn had barely focused on any conversation and only spoke when she was specifically addressed. Her mind was elsewhere for the majority of the event.

Thankfully, Vivienne did eventually return. Though Ellison and the two members of the Deamhain Sect did not come back with her.

After giving a few more words of praise to Maeve, she brought an end to the party, and everyone went their separate ways.

When she returned to her room, Evelyn did not get ready to sleep but instead walked into the bathroom and began taking out potions, spell sealing talismans, and other magic items out of her storage cuff.

"This might work. And I could use these. If I don't care about causing a scene, I could use this one."

Now that she could plot in peace, she carefully analyzed the different ways in which she could kill Osvaldo and Uriah.

She had all manner of poisons that she could attempt to slip into their food or water, or even a couple of powerful attack spells that she had obtained from the Verdant Warlord's Domain. If she just wanted to eliminate a target, she had all manner of options.

"I'm not sure what those two did to you, but this is a bit extreme, isn't it?"

Hearing a voice behind her, Evelyn turned around, and found Lucia shimmering into view. Somehow, she had used her light magic to completely prevent Evelyn from detecting her.

"Maybe it is, but I don't care. Those two are from the Deamhain Sect, and one of them is responsible for killing my parents. I will stop at nothing to get my revenge. Don't try to stop me, Lucia." Evelyn said, a manic look in her eyes.

"Very well, I was going to try and ask you to refrain from doing anything rash, but I see that is not going to happen. If you really want to go through with this, then we need to be on the same page with the others. Any sort of plan we come up with will work better if we all work together."

Evelyn was a bit surprised to hear her response. She had been expecting Lucia to dismiss her sudden desire to kill two people unrelated to their current goals. Except when she thought about it, perhaps Lucia understood her better than anyone else.

The two of them were similar, devoting nearly everything to getting retribution against those that had killed those they cared about and ruined their peaceful lives.

However, there was a very big difference between them. Lucia was more methodical and willing to set up and wait for the opportune moment to strike.

'I was about to make the same mistake I've made multiple times before.' Evelyn thought, looking back on the other times she recklessly charged towards the members of the Deamhain Sect in blind rages and utterly failed.

"Thank you, Lucia. I've calmed down a bit now. I'll listen to your wisdom and take things slowly. I still want to kill those two, but it does not need to be right away."

"Good, I'm glad that you see that you were being hasty. It's easy to get caught up in fury and lash out at the objects of your hatred. I know that feeling very well myself. But only the truly strong can get away with something like that. For us, it is important that we act methodically so that our lives and efforts do not go to waste."

The two of them then discussed when to meet with the other members of their party and come up with a plan. Evelyn's vendetta may have changed their objective for this mission, but it was not altogether a negative.

Lucia could already see a few angles that they could spin the deaths of two Deamhain Sect members within the Miris Sect to their favor. Ultimately, they wanted to destroy the entire Tyrannis Union after all.

"Okay, get some sleep tonight. We shall continue tomorrow when both of us are well rested, and our minds are at their peak." Lucia said before exiting Evelyn's room.

Alone again, Evelyn placed the multitude of items she had taken out of her storage cuff back into the magic tool.

She had already waited for several years, a few more days or weeks to make proper preparations would be nothing in comparison.

Still, she felt a bit restless, and to soothe herself, she took a long hot bath. The Miris Sect had given her access to such a nice facility so she felt that she might as well use it.

Once she was feeling more relaxed, she dried herself off and jumped into bed. A fatigue she had not realized was weighing on her made her eyelids feel heavy and she quickly drifted off to sleep. Embracing the soft pillows and silky sheets that had been provided for her.

Upon waking up the next day, she felt far better, and her mind was clear.

Today, she and the rest of her companions were going to be guarding Maeve as she toured the main grounds of the Miris Sect in order to familiarize herself with her new home.

From what Evelyn had already heard, they had many facilities similar to the ones that had been in the Roost. Such as a central building specialized in alchemy, and a place where members could accept jobs to earn currency.

Of course, there were likely to be several differences between how humans and owls conducted themselves. Evelyn was certain of this, having experienced both worlds.