Path of the Necromancer - FACTION WARS

Chapter 5.1 - Mei

After the terms settled and brunch finished, Mei wasn't sure what to do with herself. She was saved from that horrible moment of indecision by Dani tapping her on the shoulder and beckoning her to the far corner for a private word.

When she'd settled on the far edge, hands held tight in her lap and back painfully erect, Dani shook her head. "You need to relax," She stated. "You're expecting some trick, some trap, someone to pull the rug out from under you. You'll do nothing but hurt yourself thinking that way."

Mei spluttered, "Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?" She demanded hotly.

"I'm a Slayer," Dani flatly admitted.

Mei gaped, stunned.

"If I can relax around a Demon, you can relax around a Necromancer." Dani laid out her case. "I understand that you've got no reason to believe a single thing we say but you'll need to drop some of your baggage if you want to help your mother."

"Why should I trust you?" Mei challenged. "For all I know you're under some spell!"

"If you take note of my prior sentiments, you'll discover a lack of the word trust, or that you should put it in me." Dani shot back evenly. "What I 'am' telling you to do, is get your priorities straight."

"And what would those be?" Thin nose raised high and brown eyes sneering down that slope.

"Don't know, don't want to know. I've got enough to deal with without adding your shit to the silver platter that is the life of an excommunicated Demon Slayer." Dani retorted snidely. "You can take some advice from someone trying to help you or you can piss it against the wall. Either way, that's on you and my conscience is clear."

She rose to stand but Mei wasn't finished. "Wait!" Mei said loud enough to turn Ian in his chair to watch them carefully. In a softer voice, "I... Ho-why are you involved with them?"

Dani returned to her seat and appraised the Tiandihui Champion. "If you don't show up after your mission within forty-eight hours of the designated time you'd better be dead, or so the Bishops say." Dani remarked in a detached manner. "When I was almost killed by Ember, she told me... things, things I knew I couldn't leave unanswered. So, I tracked Ian down." She shrugged when Mei's contenance didn't look convinced. "Believe me or not, but they took me in and showed me what the esteemed Order thought of me and offered me a place to stay until I figured myself out."

"In case you haven't noticed it, that's what they've done for you." Dani outlined. "At first I thought it was just some scam to leave me behind while they left for another place." She felt a tear come to her eye at the memory of Ashley coming to her and the moment they shared through her memories. "I've never been so happy to be wrong." Wiping away the tear with a happy sigh, the tension of withheld emotion was almost painfulp ainful as she blew it out. "We've all got our own crap to carry, nobody can take that away from you. What matters is what you do about it, what will 'you' do going forward."

"I don't need your help, I've survived on my own just fine." Mei defiantly claimed.

"Good," Dani nodded. "When you need it though, I'm pretty sure Ian will be there to pick you up."

"I don't need your help," Mei clipped off each syllable.

"Then you're an idiot," She concluded. "If you don't need our help, what are you currently doing? Taking charity? The strong ask for help because they are either smart enough, or self aware enough, to know their limitations. The stupid and the weak ask for others to do it for them. You're not weak, from what I've seen you survive at least."

"Disengage your pride from the moment and take a look around yourself or prove me right and continue being stupid, your choice." She directed. Mei was about to give the girl a good sized piece of her mind, then situational awareness kicked in. Everyone was doing their best to 'not' hear them..., but the living area was only so large. "Lie to yourself if you want, but the fact remains we're all equals here."

"Women who seek to be the equals of men lack ambition," Mei mocked, proving to everyone she wasn't going to listen.

"And exhausted, strung out, prima-donna's shouldn't tangle with their betters," Dani smiled back. "And before you go embarrassing yourself further, ask yourself this: if the roles were reversed, would you have done what Ian did for you?"

Dani stood again and Mei watched her go. She wanted to scoff at the presumptiveness of the girl, but thereThere was something about the way she said it, the conviction behind her words that made her feel uneasy, alone..., adrift. The surrealness of the present situation had never diminished. A Necromancer, with a Demon concubine, working alongside a Demon Slayer... She dropped her head into her hands and sighed as a headache began to form. 'What the hell have I stepped into?'

She wasn't sure how long she stayed like that, the background noise a muffled cloud of white and grey. The increased intensity of the voices around her drew her from her comforting fog.