The second had happened when a group of trespassing Awakened had practiced forbidden magic, triggering Tyris’s wrath. As for Kulah’s aftermath, she was more interested in Solus than she was in Lith.
Usually, aside from Guardians, no one was ever allowed to have an audience with Mogar.
“Are you done working or do you need some more time?” Lith asked after seeing that Kamila still had a couple of folders open in front of her.
“I’m done. Why are you so late?” It wasn’t a reprimand, more genuine curiosity. Lith was anal-retentive in many things and punctuality was among those.
“I’ll tell you on our way out.”
“Give me a couple of minutes.” Kamila said, walking towards the nearest bathroom. She didn’t need to freshen her make up for the place where they were headed, she just didn’t want to flaunt her Skinwalker armor in front of her colleagues.
Having reached the position of Field Assistant despite her background was already a reason for envy, and having an Archon as her mentor even though she was just the newest apprentice only made things worse.
The last thing Kamila needed was to add more rumors to those that were already whispered about behind her back.
She entered one of the stalls and let the uniform shapeshift into civilian clothes. Having a small wardrobe of self-cleaning, tailor-made clothes on herself was another luxury she doubted that she could live without now.
“Where are you taking me tonight?” Lith asked after her return. Kamila was now wearing a white silk high neck layered ruffle blouse, black pants, and shoes with just enough heel to be able to kiss him without too much effort.
“I was thinking about a family dinner. You’re just back and I don’t want to hog you all to myself.” She replied while taking his hand and leading Lith back to the Warp Gate.
Lith sighed, it was what he had suspected the moment he had seen her coming out of the bathroom. Those were the less sexy clothes she had, more suited to a business dinner than to a date.
“Wow, I thought you would have been happy to spend a bit of time with your family after this long.” Kamila was a bit annoyed by his reaction, but at least he wasn’t pretending to be thrilled about it.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love them, but a family dinner is not exactly what I was looking forward to. Besides, we spent some time together on the day of my return.”
“Seeing you eat and sleep is not much of a visit! Also, there’s someone I think you should meet.” Kamila’s words made Lith’s mood go from sour to bad. His evening was already looking like a bust, meeting strangers wasn’t an improvement at all.
“Do you want to bring them along for our anniversary too? Because for that many people I’ll need to make the reservation quite in advance.” He sneered.
His words made Kamila stop abruptly.
“Did you remember that?” She was honestly shocked. After everything Lith had been through during the last few weeks, she was sure it would have slipped his mind.
“Of course. Jokes aside, do you want to go somewhere in particular? Because…” A long, sweet kiss cut him short before he could rant about how little time was left.
“Anything is fine by me.” She replied with a dazzling smile that almost made Lith feel guilty about his currently grumpy mood. Almost.
A few Warp Steps brought them near their destination, where a surprise was waiting for him. Someone was standing right past the borders of the arrays protecting Lith’s house.
It was a woman in her mid twenties, about 1.75 (5’9″) meters tall with raven-black hair that reached the small of her back. She was wearing a comfortable adventurer set made of hardened leather comprised of a jacket, a shirt, pants, and boots.
The clothes were loose enough to not impede her movements, but could do very little to hide her soft curves. There was something nervous about her countenance that raised several flags in Lith’s mind.
The spot of her choosing was too peculiar to be a coincidence. She either had used an array detecting spell or she was able to see them. Also, there was the fact that she had been staring at them from the moment they had appeared, as if she had seen the Warp Steps opening.
‘Zartan may be an idiot, but he was right about one thing.’ Athung thought while waiting for Lith to arrive. The moment her contacts had let her know that he had taken a Gate, she knew it was only a matter of time before he came home.
‘I can’t give up on diplomacy without even trying. Mostly because I’ve got no other option.’ Athung took a long look at the couple with Life Vision before they noticed her.
She was honestly unimpressed by both of them. The only astonishing thing about Lith was his vigor, whereas his mana core seemed weak. The cloaking rings he wore hid Solus and his magical powers, but not his vitality.
Lith was an Awakened since his birth, so his body was as strong as it could possibly be.
Lith’s physical prowess was something that an Awakened of his same build and stage of core refinement could equal but not surpass. Which made him much stronger than Athung who was shorter, lighter, and had experienced fewer breakthroughs.
‘For the gods’ sake, how can someone so much younger than me already be that strong?’ She thought. ‘To make matters worse, for an Awakened, he doesn’t seem to have a great taste in women.’
Due to the body refinement, all Awakened were beautiful according to human standards, which made them very picky about their partners. Athung had lived most of her life with Raagu, so she found most humans to be ugly.
According to Awakened standards, Tista would have been considered a beautiful woman, Lith an average guy, Kamila homely at best, and Athung pretty.
“Is she the person you wanted to introduce to me?” Lith asked while weaving several spells at the same time, just to be on the safe side.
“Of course not!” Kamila replied a bit too fast for her own liking.
‘As if I’d introduce such a hottie to my boyfriend.’ She thought. ‘What’s wrong with Lutia? How can so many beautiful people live here?’
She was unaware that Lith’s family had been treated by him over the years, bringing them up to Awakened standards.
‘I don’t know who that woman is, but all of her equipment is enchanted and she is likely to be an Awakened. I can see her blue core sending streams of mana throughout her body, whereas fake mages have static cores.’ Solus thought, breaking the impasse.
“Kami stay behind me and don’t move, no matter what!” Lith stood in front of her as a blue aura erupted from his body, covering ten meters (33 feet) around him and two sets of what appeared to be membranous wings came out from his back.
Lith had just used the Full Guard and the Death Call spells. The former allowed Lith to perceive everything and everyone within its boundaries, making it impossible to take him by surprise. It also allowed him to defend himself even from attacks coming from his blind spots.
Usually Solus’s senses were enough, but since he was with Kamila and had no idea if more people were cloaked in the vicinity, he couldn’t afford to take risks.
