As soon as the boy left, Vashda strolled out from behind a stone pillar. Mai smothered her surprise with a smile as she walked off to her “office”.

“Do you think they’ll back off?” Vashda asked, her gait matching Mai’s.

“If they’re smart enough.” Mai retorted with an amused smirk, her headdres turning from red to purple, in synch with her changing mood.

Vashda’s own headpiece was colorless and disconnected, the mind receptors that were cleverly disguised as shells were dangling instead of pressed against her forhead. She never liked broadcasting emotions.

“And if they’re not?”

Mai stopped walking and turned to Vashda, “Then a war is what they’ll get. You know very well the arsenal we have been building ever since my parents banished my brother. Doctor Glaciers has been supervising the other laboratory as well. He says all the incubators are full and his new Gene Machine is finally operational.”

Vashda hesitated a second, “The developments may mean nothing. Your brother’s allies are on the move now.”