Chapter 293 – Clarity

Silvia’s eyes snap open to meet the sterile white ceiling of the med bay. The fair scent of herbs wafts from her breath, but a familiar scent of metal and flowers catches her attention. She turns her head to see Emily sitting idly on a bed beside her, wearing a loose pair of unadorned synth-fibre trousers with her usual scarf wrapped around her chest. Silvia’s eyes flitter between the armless socket connected to her left shoulder and the spattering of fresh scars covering her torso, already faded as if with weeks of healing.

Emily notices the vampire’s gaze and closes out of the system window she was working on: a half-finished schematic for a new version of her arm.

“Morning,” Silvia greets as Emily’s mismatched eyes meet hers, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.

“Took you long enough,” Emily responds flatly. “You’ve been out for a little over a day. Elwaine didn’t bother trying to cover up the energy fluctuations we caused, so we left the battle site and had Wilder find us another patch of empty space to hang about in till you awoke.”

“I told you I’d be fine.” Silvia pushes herself upright, looking down and taking in the herb-soaked bandages covering most of her body.

“You did… You also kissed me.”

“I did.” Silvia looks back up at her with a smug grin, enjoying her carefully neutral expression. “You proposed to me again.”

“I…” A frown pulls at the edges of Emily’s brows as she recalls their conversation about their cultures’ marriage customs. “Did.”

“Haa,” Silvia gasps, clasping a hand to her chest with an exaggerated, hurt expression. “I thought you never forget! Don’t tell me you didn’t mean it. Was my heart misplaced?”

“Urgh,” Emily groans and rolls her eyes at the act, letting her gaze drift off into the middle distance. “I… don’t know what I meant.”

Silvia’s gaze softens, and she swings her legs off the edge of the bed before standing.

“Come on. I don’t know about you, but I’m parched and think we deserve a celebratory drink.”

“You’re just running before Hipaepha finds out you’re awake.” Emily stands with a grin, pulling a plain white robe for the vampire to cover herself with from her belt.

“Haha, you got me.” Silvia leads the way out, striding towards the crew’s quarters. “I tend to escape the need to visit him thanks to my natural regeneration, but the few times I have ended up under his care…”

She visibly shivers to Emily’s amusement.

“I haven’t been lectured so badly since-” Silvia cuts herself off, shaking her head before slowing to fall in step beside Emily. “What about you? Sounds like you’re speaking from recent experience. What’s the damage?”

“Nothing that won’t heal.” Emily shrugs. “My arm is as good as scrap now, but I’m already working on the next iteration. My magic network, the combination of my magic circuits and neural net, got pretty burnt out, but it’s already on the mend. I’ve been told not to actively use my energies for ten days while it fixes itself, though.”

“And you don’t have anything that could speed that up in your little belt of wonders?”

“Unfortunately, no. I tried one of my usual healing brews, but it’s made for targeting wounds of the flesh. I could probably make something specialised – I already have a few ideas how – but that would require using my mana at least, so I’ll just have to follow the doctor’s orders and then make something to prepare for a possible repeat in the future.” ℯℯ𝑙.

“You plan on pushing yourself so hard again?”

“I plan on nothing, but it can’t hurt to be prepared. Speaking of, I didn’t plan on running out of mana, and I didn’t have an alchemical neutralising agent strong enough for that acid bomb. Your side has scarred badly. Would you like me to brew something to repair the damage once I’m recovered?”

“You think it ruins my beauty?” Silvia teases with a fanged grin, opening the door to her room and placing a hand in the small of Emily’s back to guide her in.

“Not at all, but he shouldn’t have been able to use my attack against you like that, so I thought it only right to offer.”

Silvia’s room is identical to Emily’s in size and basic layout, but it appears far more lived in. The floor is covered by a soft carpet dyed in warm colours that match the bedding, and the air is charged with qi. The wall opposite the bathroom is occupied by a large, half-open closet filled with a variety of clothes: most of them the ornate robes the vampire favours. There’s a table with a couple of plush chairs beneath the room’s main screen, which is showing a feed of the fleet outside, and beside it is a bookshelf covered in scrolls. Next to the bathroom door are several large, glass-doored fridges filled with bottles and bags of crimson liquids which Silvia gravitates towards after gesturing for Emily to take a seat.

“If anything, I should be thanking you,” Silvia responds with a hint of amusement in her tone as she peruses the bottles. “It’s only fitting my long-sought revenge should come with such a distinct scar: an appropriate badge of honour, don’t you think?”

“An acid burn is certainly unique.”

“Haha, I knew you’d get it. You bear a fair few marks yourself that I’m sure you could’ve removed.”

Emily doesn’t miss Silvia’s gaze tracing the rough scarring on the skin around her mechanical arm’s mounting socket as she sets down two glasses on the table and presents her chosen wine. It’s a bottle of Nightshade Rouge, the same as they shared while first discussing Yorn’s downfall, but unlike that bottle, which was labelled High-Grade, this one only shows the name and a date not of the universal calendar that Emily doesn’t know how to interpret, and she can feel the dense energy filling it through its seal.

“This is a… special vintage I took with me when I first fled my home planet,” the vampire explains, a vindictive grin flickering across her face for a moment as she breaks open the bottle, letting its rich, fruity aroma wash over them. “I’ve been saving it for an equally special occasion.”

She fills their glasses and takes her seat before raising her glass towards Emily in a silent request. Emily matches her and brings their glasses together, watching glistening currents of visible energy swirling through the drink.

“To new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings,” Emily agrees, taking a sip and savouring the unique taste.

The bloody tang is stronger than that of the High-Grade they drank, yet somehow, it’s still not overwhelming, with a near-sickly sweet undertone cutting through it. The qi and mana filling the drink flood Emily’s system with warmth, refilling her still half-empty reserves at a noticeable pace and soothing her aching magic network. Her eyes widen in shock, and she looks up from the glass to see Silvia watching her with a knowing smile playing on her lips.

“I said it was a special vintage, did I not?” the vampire asks smugly.

“It’s repairing my magic network! I think that’s a little beyond special,” Emily remarks, glancing at the bottle sitting between them with intense curiosity. “Hell, with the amount of energy in that bottle, I daresay that, if I were in peak condition, it would aid my cultivation. What on Ulea’s in there?”

“And you’re not even a vampire,” Silvia chuckles, enjoying Emily's momentary loss of composure. “To us, this is one of the greatest treasures in the known universe. As for what it’s made of? Well, maybe I’ll tell you someday.”

Emily glares at the vampire’s teasing grin before scoffing and forcing down the many questions on the tip of her tongue.

They fall into a comfortable silence as they slowly make their way through their glasses, but Emily can feel the coming conversation like a storm on the horizon, the bundle of complex emotions in her chest still present and no clearer than when it formed. She considers quashing it with her machina, as she did many times while waiting for Silvia to wake, but her logical mind tells her that would be counterproductive to her progress in unravelling her sealed emotional vault, and something undiscernible in her heart tells her she simply doesn’t want to.

“So…” Silvia starts as she refills their emptied glasses, a sly grin creeping onto her face. “I think we’re overdue an honest conversation.”

“Oh?” Emily raises a brow, recognising the line from their first liaison over wine. “Is this going to become a recurring thing for us?”

“What, a good drink and good company? I certainly wouldn’t complain if it does.”

“Flattery won’t keep me from questioning your intentions.”

“Oh, but I’d never want it to. After all, I mean every word.”

“You… do, don’t you?” Emily mutters, the playful smile falling from her face as she soberly thinks back over all their interactions since she joined the crew.

“Yes.” Silvia nods, her smile still present but softening into something more serious. “I’ve been interested in you since we first met and thought I’d made that blatantly obvious.”

“You did,” Emily agrees quietly.

“Oh really? Because a certain elf told me I may have to be more direct. Apparently, I’ve not been forthright about my intentions.”

Emily can’t help but laugh and shake her head. “I just didn’t want to see it. You may have noticed, but I have a few problems with my emotional regulation.”

“You don’t say.” Silvia smirks “Well, just in case, allow me to be as forthright as I can. When we first met, I was initially drawn to you by your clear understanding of universal common, despite supposedly having never interacted with the universe at large, and by your scent.

You see, a vampire’s sense of smell and taste are a unique hereditary trait almost all of us share, passed down from our Progenitor. They have two main uses. One, to identify suitable sources of power for us to feed on, and two, to identify compatibility with the ideal mate. Your scent is one of the most alluring I’ve ever smelt, but you only appeared to be fifth stage, so of course, my first assumption was that it was due to the latter. Then, during our first spar, when I got a taste of your delectable blood, I realised it was actually both.”

“Wait, but you were questioning why I smelt like a stronger awakened before you tasted anything. I thought you already knew…”

“I’d simply considered the possibility you were successfully hiding your cultivation,” Silvia dismisses with a shrug. “I knew there was something off from your uncanny understanding, but I’ll admit, that was a lucky shot in the dark. After all, I wasn’t exactly going to tell you that you smelt irresistible to me, and it was far more fun to ask probing questions and watch you squirm.”

“I don’t squirm,” Emily responds flatly.

“Oh, but darling, you do. It may be subtler than most, but I’ve been dealing with mechanics for far longer than you’ve been one, and you react to my every word.” Silvia flashes her wine-stained fangs and runs her tongue over them, drawing in Emily’s gaze. “It’s how I know my advances weren’t unappreciated, even when they went unacknowledged.”

“Hmm,” Emily hums in reluctant agreement, tearing her eyes away and taking a sip of wine, cycling her machina to cool the heat in her cheeks.

“Anyway, my interest turned from curiosity to desire somewhere between pinning you to the training room floor and you agreeing to aid me in my mutiny, and the rest is history,” Silvia continues with a smug glint in her eyes. “Now, your turn.”

“Right…” Emily paused, mulling over her words and allowing Silvia to fill her glass again. “I had… an unstable childhood, to say the least. I learnt at a young age that the easiest way to deal with my problems was to repress my turmoil and pour myself into my work. That, as it turns out, was not a particularly healthy mindset for an awakened mechanic.”

Silvia scoffs but doesn’t interject, silently gesturing for her to continue.

“After leaving my first love to pursue revenge and subsequently losing the last of my family in a matter of days, I lost it a little.” Emily takes another sip before setting her glass down and moving her hand to drum her fingers against the table, resuming with a rueful smile. “I pride myself on my control, but that was one of the few times I felt completely without it. I made a poor snap decision that, even now, I’m not certain I made by choice, and forcibly sealed my emotions within my cortex. That was at third stage, and my ascension to fourth only made it worse. That sector of my cortex is now mostly beyond my control, and trying to access it leads to everything I tried to repress coming to the surface at once.”

Silvia’s expression softens, and she reaches across the small table to take Emily’s restless hand in hers, running her thumb over the back in a soothing motion.

“I made an attempt at unsealing the vault using a potion inspired by the supplicant tribe on Ulea’s mind healing methods. It forced me to relive the night of my birth parents’ deaths until I came to terms with it, but while successful in returning a hint of my emotionality, it left a mental scar that once again worsened with my ascension to fifth stage.”

“Fool,” Silvia admonishes, though there’s no heat behind her words. “Attempting ascension with lingering mental demons is one of the most common causes of energy deviation, and crossing the mortal barrier is a particularly important step. I’ve seen countless awakened undone by their own minds, and I would prefer it if you didn’t follow in their footsteps.”

“Ha, I don’t plan on it. I aim to unravel the vault completely before I attempt my next ascension, though I’m unsure as to how.”

“I have a few ideas we could try.”

“We?”

“Of course, dear. Issues of the mind are notoriously hard to handle alone, and I’ll gladly assist if you’ll allow me.”

“You’re… not put off by my emotional limitations?”

“Ha, please,” Silvia grins, squeezing her hand. “I would have given up getting through to you months ago if that were the case. No. You know it’s a problem you need to work through, and you’re willing to do it. That’s all that matters. I know you don’t fully trust me yet – you keep your secrets just as I do mine – but that can develop as we go. The important thing is, would you like to pursue a romantic relationship with me? My help is not contingent on the answer, since I still want you as my Vice no matter what and it would be foolish to stunt your growth, but obviously I would prefer if you agreed.”

“I…” Emily squeezes her hand back. “I think I would. I won’t claim to be certain of my own feelings just yet – such a long time separated from them appears to have done some damage there – but I’m sure I enjoy your company, and, though it surprised me, I can’t say I disliked kissing you.”

Silvia laughs and releases her hand, pulling back to finish off her glass and fill them both one final time as the conversation lightens.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to try again until you’re sure.”