This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

5.54 – Found II

5.54 – Found II

Rosalie couldn't believe her eyes. There, standing casually in front of her, unperturbed as always, hand resting on Rosalie's shoulder, was no one but Lucinda Everhart. The Sentinel of the Sable Spear. A seventh-advancement wayfarer, a woman with a reputation nearly as towering as Rosalie's own father, who could likely wipe half this city from existence should she feel slightly inclined to try.

But more importantly—Rosalie's mentor. A High Officer of the Deepshunters Guild. And undoubtedly, sent here on a mission by Enzo d'Celestin himself to retrieve Rosalie and return her to safety.

"Good to see you're in one piece," Lucinda continued, not bothering with any polite frivolities. Lucinda had never been that kind of woman. "Never a guarantee in our profession, regardless who you are. So good job, making it through your first few shards." She nodded approvingly. "I'll admit, though. This isn't especially where I expected to find you, Rosalie." Her eyes flicked around the store, then paused at what was in Rosalie's hands, before going back up to meet Rosalie's wide eyes.

Wait.

In her hands?

What was in her hands, again?

The ... sex toy.

The 'stamina enhancing unit'.

Oh, no.

Oh no, no, no.

Lucinda Everhart, her father's right-hand enforcer, Rosalie's own weapon master, had tracked her down to a sex shop. And undoubtedly heard the conversation she'd had with the clerk. Not only had her plans been completely demolished with Lucinda's arrival, and her future thrown into disarray, but the woman Rosalie held, perhaps, in highest regard in the entire world, the woman who had taught her the spear as much as her father or sisters had, was right there, looking at Rosalie hold a pocket pussy.

A lewd toy meant for pleasuring herself.

Her brain broke.

"I— I— no, no, no, you don't— this is a misunderstanding, Lucinda," Rosalie said, the words tumbling from her in a disjointed mess. "You don't—It's not—I can explain!" She thrust the toy at the clerk, who took it, watching the interaction with confusion. "This isn't what it looks like! And, and, I have reasons for delaying my return." The last part came out desperately, trying to turn the conversation to, somehow, the less awful part of this interaction. Rosalie's absence.

"Reasons?" Lucinda asked, pointedly looking around the room. "Yeah. I can tell. You got distracted."

"Real reasons!" Rosalie squeaked—which only made Lucinda's eyebrows raise further. Even Rosalie didn't think she'd ever squeaked something before, much less to Lucinda. Rosalie took a deep, calming breath. It didn't help. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"I'll leave you two alone, then," Ash said slowly. "Come and let me know if you have any other questions, dear." She squeezed Rosalie's elbow, eyes searching Rosalie for signs of distress—in the sense that she was in danger. Rosalie shook her head, since that wasn't the source of her panic, then stuttered out in response, "T-Thank you. I'll do that."

Ash nodded, then, studying her a second longer, left.

"How did I find you?" Lucinda asked. "Come, Rosalie. Your father has his means. You can't be that surprised. Tracking a new arrival around the Fractures is difficult, but not impossible—especially when it's his own daughter."

Rosalie placed a hand on her forehead, feeling faint. "There's ... complications."

"I'll uncomplicate them for you."

"Not the kind you can," Rosalie said. "I have—teammates. At a very minimum, we'll need to collect them. They'll be accompanying me back to Mantle. And I also have ... other business."

At that, Lucinda's amusement dried up. The ridiculousness of having found Rosalie in a sex store, handling a pocket pussy, had already colored the interaction with a strange, absurd hue, but Rosalie's claims to having found teammates was ... well, a monumental matter.

"Really," Lucinda said flatly. "You found teammates. Ones you mean to keep? Who? How? Why?"

The concept was immediately ludicrous because Rosalie's father obviously intended to arrange her wayfaring team—from a collection of the best the world had to offer.

"Just ... two women I met," Rosalie said. She winced. "Three, actually. We've almost a full squad."

Lucinda stared at her. Eventually, though, she shrugged. "Okay. Then it sounds like you better track them down. Because we are leaving by tonight."

Rosalie was glad she'd taken the announcement in stride, but there were more problems. "Tonight? That's— well, you see, I think we might have to—"

"Your father sent me for a reason," Lucinda said. "I don't know what that reason is, but he wants you back. We're not dallying."

Rosalie took a breath. A part of her considered trying to assert her authority, to take control of the situation, but the idea was laughable even after brief consideration. Not only did Lucinda Everhart outrank her in every figurative sense—even if Rosalie was the future heiress to the guild—she might literally have more authority than Rosalie, too. Plus, it was her father himself giving Lucinda the order to bring her back. She had no argument, there.

So, she had to reason with Lucinda.

And how in the world was she supposed to do that? Rosalie hadn't even fully organized her explanations to herself, yet. She was wildly unprepared to explain Zoey's importance—and whether she wanted to at all. Much less to Lucinda. Her father might have to know, considering the bigger-picture implications of a goddess's champion being her teammate, but only him. Zoey's class was too delicate—and admittedly, embarrassing—for Rosalie to tell anyone who didn't strictly need to know. Even Lucinda, whom Rosalie trusted to all reasonable extents.

She steeled herself. She couldn't overrule Lucinda, especially with Father's vague, unspecified 'reason' for insisting she be brought back hanging over both of their heads, but that didn't mean Rosalie couldn't make an argument for why a delay was necessary.

But, first, this was probably not the best place to have such a conversation.

"We'll talk elsewhere," Rosalie said, finally getting some control over herself. "I assure you, you don't have the smallest context as to what's happened to me these past few weeks. Father has his reasons, yes, but so do I. And if he believes me capable of one day taking his mantle, then he'll have to accept my judgment, won't he?"

Lucinda raised her eyebrows.

"And besides," Rosalie continued. "You're here. So I'm clearly safe, if he for some reason is concerned about that." The only explanation Rosalie could imagine for her father's insistence to fetch her was that he had reason to believe an enemy faction was seeking her out. But with Lucinda there to guard her ... well, there was a very, very small number of wayfarers who could even dream of touching the Sentinel of the Sable Spear.

Lucinda considered her for a moment, then grunted. "Alright, we'll talk about it. But I'll need more than that, to go against Enzo's explicit wishes." She headed for the exit, waving over her shoulder for Rosalie to follow. Rosalie did so. Lucinda was one of the few people in the entire world who could—or would dare to—so easily order her around. "Start with the teammates. What's the story?"