Renwa yanked open the door, barely holding on to his pants. "Elunara, I don't have to tell you why this better be important."
"Sorry I killed your morning hour, but I figured you'd want this immediately."
He backed up and let her in.
"Hey, Zel." Elunara waved to the woman who had given up on using the tattered bed sheet to cover herself.
"You can't have him back!" She called.
"Don't want him back." She grinned.
"No threesomes either." Zelinnia crossed her arms.
"You monogamists, I'll never understand you." Elunara sighed.
"To the point, Lu."
"I've discovered a whacky plot."
"What?"
"Are you aware of a brother and sister, John and Kathleen?"
"The names don't come to mind, those would be in my personnel files... in my office." He ground out.
She handed him a pair of sketches. "These two?"
"Hmm. Yes, I do remember them. John is currently training under Grogek. His sister had to come with him... some kind of condition that makes her delicate, difficult to handle. Her brother is the only one who can take care of her at the moment."
Elunara chuckled. "She is no delicate flower, and she is running the show. He threatens her brother with these." She handed Renwa a roll she got from her own collection.
"Oh, ow. Nasty, why would she even...?" He shuddered and passed the roll back to Elunara.
"Not certain." Elunara went back for the portrait she made. "How often have you seen this one?"
He studied the page. "From first day introductions... after? I can't place her."
Zelinnia leaned in. "I've seen her." She twisted the picture sideways, put her hand over the hair. "See?"
Renwa blinked at it. "You're right. She's usually wearing a massive sun hat. I didn't recognize her without it."
"Why did you turn the page?" Elunara considered the picture and drew a sketch of a hat that she stuck over the image.
"Because she's always looking around corners." Zelinnia shrugged.
"Put her in a dramatic pose on the ground, and I probably would have recognized her. She's forever fainting. Claims the sun gets to her. I've suggested getting Ina to help her, or perhaps Eloise to design her a better bonnet. She waved it away, says she's doing the best she can. Then I escort her home, or some other such thing." Renwa considered. "You say she's faking it?"
"She's a vicious little bitch. Her own brother would probably drown her in the bathtub if he thought he could." Elunara sighed. "What I saw was no wilting flower, but rather a nasty woman bent on vindictive revenge. She couldn't do anything about me, but once I was so obviously out of the way..." She shrugged. "You might want to sit down for the rest of this."
Renwa sat in his one chair and then tugged Zelinnia into his lap.
Elunara smirked. "I am so drawing that when I get a chance. "
Zelinnia held her head and stared, wide eyed. "Because some little twat wants Johnathan to marry HER?"
"I couldn't determine her entire game plan, but I was on an information gathering mission, and I couldn't find a diary or journal with which to glean all information, but yes. Going on what John said, she wanted Renwa to be considered the most important person here. And she wants herself firmly attached to him when he gets any promotions."
"I could shoot her in the ass." Zelinnia muttered.
"What concerns me is, who else might have been included in this thought process?" Renwa frowned. His arms were tightly wrapped around Zelinnia, as if trying to prevent her from running away again.
There was a knock on the door and Elunara opened the door. "Hello Jordan."
"Sir!" He froze in shock, and then sighed. "Zelinnia was strange enough, now you have BOTH of them?" Jordan drooped his shoulders.
Elunara rolled her eyes and grabbed Jordan by a shoulder and dragged him inside. She slammed the door behind him.
Zelinnia scrabbled behind Renwa. "Elunara!"
"Sorry, forgot." Elunara yanked off her own shirt and shoved it over Zelinnia's head. "Now we can continue."
"Poor Zelinnia." Jordan murmured. "I mean... I don't get your tastes Sir, but that's not mine to judge." He held up his hands. "I haven't heard of this strange rumor though."
"Elunara, what do you believe the best course of action to be?" Renwa asked.
She shook her head. "I need more intel. For now, I need you two to be on alert for any of these rumors. Zelinnia and I will go about our days as if nothing has changed. Once I figure out the end game, I can move forward then.
"Do it."
"Zelinnia?" Elunara grinned. "Do you need me to get you some clothes?"
She flushed. "I'll just put my dress back on."
"Well, I need my shirt back. I was already warned about strolling around naked."
Zelinnia glared. "Jordan leaves first."
He turned the same shade of red as Zelinnia's hair.
"Dismissed, Jordan." Renwa said mildly.
Jordan turned and fled.
"Good kid; shows too much emotion on his face." Renwa sighed.
"Well, my last attempts to make a man out of him didn't end well." She got hit in the face by her own shirt.
"You're terrible, Elunara. You can't even see he has a crush on you." Zelinnia stomped over to get her dress.
Renwa and Elunara stared at each other. "Seriously?" Elunara stared.
Zelinnia stopped, still bent over. She rose up slowly. "Are you telling me, that the queen, nay, goddess of sex, can't see a boyish crush?" She put her hands on her hips. "I'm so ashamed for you."
Elunara put a hand to her mouth as she skimmed through the vast photographic memory in her head. "Elune save me, that's why I can't figure out what to do with him."
"How could we have missed that?" Renwa frowned.
"Damn it all, my dress is shredded." She marched over to Renwa and whacked him in the shoulder. "Have a care when you remove my clothes."
"I'm sorry, my Beauty, you're just so tasty, I can't control myself." He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap. He covered her mouth with his.
Elunara lifted her sketch pad and began furiously scribbling. "You two are adorable."
"Ack!" Zelinnia gasped. "Don't you..."
"Oh, I'm gonna, you two are ridiculously adorable."
"Can I get copies of both pictures?" Renwa asked.
