Sitting inside a very fluffy room Laura watched Rachel, the third of the four Condors she's meeting going over paperwork. She was invited inside, but when she entered the wolf woman realized it was probably an automatic response since the cat woman didn't seem to notice her presence at all.
Eventually Rachel leaned back in her chair and let out a long-tired sigh. When she looked back down, the two women in the room made eye contact. For several long agonizing seconds, they just stared at one another without moving.
"Hello ma'am, when did you get here?"
"I've been here for a while. You're the one that said I could come in."
"Oh."
"...."
"...."
"Ms. Rachel, I'm here to speak with you as an individual, and to discuss the traitor problem Queen Zenesha is dealing with currently."
"So, I've heard, very busy for a newcomer." Rachel said getting back to work. "Danial and Iris told me about your visits yesterday."
"Then this should be quick then. I don't expect you to have any real information currently, just wanted to hear your thoughts." Laura responded.
"Like what? The fact I'm supposed to keep the enemy from encroaching that far into our territory, but they still managed to get through our line?" Rachel glared at Laura. "Believe me I'm trying to figure out how two ambushes happened, but someone is disturbing my work."
Laura frowned at her words. She didn't have nearly as much patience with others as she did with Zenesha. Even if the cat woman was cute. She needed to find this traitor and as a newcomer she needed to ask around to get a general feel of the place.
Sure, Zenesha had put them on a list of people to check, but Laura doubted the fox truly believed any of them were traitors, otherwise she would've made a point about it beforehand. Three of the four were picked by her mother, and one picked by her. So, seeing the cat woman's attitude was more annoying since there's a chance Zenesha had personally picked her.
"I'm just doing what I need to do to keep Queen Zenesha safe." Laura spoke, her tone low.
"You can do that, just don't bother me needlessly, I need to prepare to leave for the border."
"Just to confirm before I go, Condor." The wolf woman didn't think she would have anything of value right now anyway, but she did still have to ask. "You have no suspicions at this current moment?"
"Looking through these reports a little more clearly, something is off with Gold Base. That's about it." She sighed and looked at Laura. "Is that all ma'am?"
"That's all. For now, anyway." Laura spoke.
*Knock knock*
"Come in." Rachel said.
"I've brought the cases you asked for Commander." A young man with no distinctive features walked in.
Laura felt like she recognized him. There wasn't anything off about the way he acted, but for some reason his presence felt weird especially since he felt familiar to her. She squinted her eyes at him for a few seconds before turning away to leave the room. She didn't really care, just a strange sense of DeJa'Vu.
"Wait, wasn't he seen with the other two Condors yesterday?" She didn't know why that felt significant to her, but it did. "I should keep a mental note on them and figure out who they are later."
=======
"Let's get to the point. I don't trust you." The Elf said to Laura the moment she stepped through the door.
She had lunch with Zenesha before coming to visit the last Condor and he seemed to have just finished his. A familiar young man was grabbing the used dishes and taking them out of the room. Laura glanced at him briefly as she addressed the Elf.
"Very blunt Mr. Fir." Laura noted her eyebrow raised. "May I ask why you felt the need to tell me this?"
"I figured it would make our cooperation easier if we weren't lying about this fact." The Elf said. "No need to pretend we like each other."
"Got it."
"I'm also here to tell you I do in fact have a suspicion." He continued. "Other than you of course."
"Thank you?"
Laura wasn't sure how to react to Xavier Fir. He was surprisingly blunt, but not aggressive. He was corroborating, but not submissive. Laura felt like once the two of them built up trust they would get along just fine without any real problems. She couldn't say the same thing about the cat.
"I believe Rachel's second in command, Laurance Lewis, is the most likely suspect." The Elf explained." After all he would be the person with the most information to plan these things. Other than Rachel of course."
"Do you actually believe this or is it just suspicion?" Laura asked.
"I don't truly think he's responsible, but he was also involved with Queen Zenesha's rescue operation." Xavier clarified. "I hope my suspicion is wrong. Not just for Queen Zenesha, but Rachel as well."
"I'll mark him down."
"Was there anything else ma'am?" The Condor asked.
"No, that was all really. Thank you for your time." Laura said as she walked out of the room.
Laura was expecting two things from these interactions. Either everyone would point fingers at each other, or no one would. After talking with the others, she didn't think she would get any suspects. She had also made sure to mark down how every one of Condor's treated her individually.
Danial was diplomatic, neither too friendly nor too hostile. Iris seemed a little scattered but was much more friendly than the others. Rachel was the most hostile out of the four, even if she still tried to be polite thanks to their different ranks. Xavier was just blunt, but cooperative, willing to give her a chance even if he doesn't trust her at all.
"The person I'll need to gain the trust out of the most is Rachel?" She muttered to herself.
On the surface it could be said Rachel was hostile thanks to a lack of trust, and while that was true there were also a lot of factors that played into her attitude. Her extra hostility could just be stress. Especially since part of this mess could be her fault.
"Or should it be Iris?" She was the friendliest she believed. While there was tension between them, Iris did attempt to be bubbly.
Laura continued to walk down the hallway until she got to the elevator. Stepping inside she unhooked her griffin insignia and held it up to the scanner that revealed a hidden compartment. Inside was a single button that Laura pressed. Soon the elevator started moving again, heading to the private floor that belonged to Zenesha.
Once she arrived on the right floor, she stepped off the elevator and headed towards the woman's bedroom. Looking inside she found the fox sitting at her desk playing a farming sim on her PC. Laura smiled, knowing that despite the fact she was still catching up on work she always took this time of day to take a break and play a game.
"Hey there Honey, how's your day so far?"
"Wha-!?" Zenesha turned around looking both surprised and flustered. "Who are you calling Honey you perverted wolf!"
"You're so cute." The perverted wolf said as she walked over to the woman. "Anyway, I have stuff to report."
=-=-=-=
It was once again another night for the two. They already went through their nightly routine and went to bed a while ago. However, Zenesha woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of Laura getting up and heading to the bathroom. Despite being a void creature Laura had explained she's made herself mortal on purpose and still needed food, sleep, and every other basic biological need other people had.
So even though she could theoretically ignore the need to use the bathroom or even eat and sleep. She still did. Choosing to be as mortal as possible to experience the world as closely as possible. Zenesha didn't understand personally, but to each their own.
However, this time, when Laura left the bathroom, instead of going back to her sleeping bag she climbed onto the foot of her bed, curled up and drifted off to sleep almost immediately. Zenesha could hear the soft breathing of the wolf as she slept. She thought about kicking the wolf off for a second before sighing.
Sitting up she looked at the sleeping Laura near her feet. She looked so peaceful and… she looked good. That's it. She looked nice. No other thoughts crossed her mind, and she refused to acknowledge any.
"Fine, just for tonight you wolf." She muttered laying back down to go to sleep.
For now, she's going to have Laura stay by her side for the next few days until she catches up to her work. Then they would investigate together after that.
"Goodnight Laura." Muttered Zenesha as she drifted off to sleep once again.