Chapter seventeen

Neah spent her first few weeks of being back in Sindria to think. She locked herself away in her room and thought about everything. She'd been running around so much the past months she wasn't even sure what exactly was happening with everything. She was also worried about her plan, thanks to the Wandering Magi. It wasn't like she had much of a plan, but she was trying.

The magi honestly had no idea how things would work out. She'd started randomly writing, just everything and anything to get her thoughts together.

So far, Neah knew that she had two counties backing her up. Saying it like that made it seem like she had nothing. Magnostadt wouldn't help. Reim was willing to help for free, but Kou thought differently. Kouen Ren wanted information. Neah didn't want to give it to him. The only reason she had agreed was so she could stop MWS. At first, Neah didn't care about how the Ren's would react to her not holding up her end of the deal. But for the first time in forever, Neah was having doubt. Fear. She'd lived her life being cocky and not caring about what anyone would think, but now she wasn't sure. Everyone she asked for help questioned her on how she would do this, and she wasn't able to say she'd figure it out later anymore. She needed to -as she would say- 'get her shit together'.

Another worry of Neah's was that she needed to ask Sinbad for his support as well. At this point, she was sure he'd say no. She still hated the king, but couldn't help but hate the fact that she had to be so rude to him all the time. As he had told her when she went to Reim, being rude and childish wasn't going to get her anywhere. Neah couldn't figure out why she disliked the king so much. Maybe it was because he was just as sly and manipulative as she was, maybe even more. How he just knew what to say to get his way. She was never able to tell is he was lying or sincere or if he had an ulterior motive. It pissed the young magi off.

"Arrg! I need to ask him at some point!" Neah growled. Her voice cracked and she realized how long it'd been since she'd talked. She was just beginning to notice the crumbled balls of paper surrounding her desk and the floor around it. She sighed and plopped her head onto the desk. She created a mental to-do list, Ok. Eat. Hydrate. Look half decent...Man up and ask Sinbad tonight.

~

The generals all looked surprised to see Neah outside of her room for the first time in weeks. Especially Yamraiha, who made sure the magi wasn't overworking herself again. Neah even felt a bit awkward being around everyone again, after how she left Sindria. It was another out of character emotion she was extremely annoyed by recently.

By the time Neah had checked off all but the last thing on her to-do list, it was well past dark. The magi had planned several different conversations she could have with Sinbad. Ways to ask him, how he could react, how she should react. And she still didn't want to. "Ah whatever... Now or never..." She mumbled to herself and knocked on the king's study door.

"Come in," Sinbad answered. He was surprised to see who it was, "Oh, Neah? What is it?"

"Ah, I wanted to talk to you," Neah entered and closed the door behind her. She didn't have her staff on her, and wasn't sure what to do with her hands. Looking around, she was thankful that it was just Sinbad, and Ja'far wasn't around. Her eyes landed on a nearby table with a large bottle of alcohol and two glasses on it. Every planned thought she had was gone from her mind as she walked over and lifted the bottle, "Want one?"

"Sure," Sinbad nodded, placing down a quill and pushing his paperwork aside. Neah brought the two glasses and bottle of alcohol to his desk and placed them down before pouring them both drinks. She handed one to Sinbad as he asked, "So what do you want to talk about? You've been looked up in your room for a while now, I was beginning to get worried. How'd it go in Kou?"

"Well...that's sorta what I wanted to talk about," Neah began drinking. She cringed a bit at how strong the drink was, she wasn't good with alcohol. "Things went well in Reim, Scheherazade is cool with everything. I got Kouen to agree to help while I was in Kou too, and began planning stuff..." Neah trailed off.

"Good, good. What do you have for plans so far?" Sinbad went to refill his cup, silently offering to refill hers as well.

Neah quickly finished what was left in her cup and allowed him to refill it, "Eh, nothing much..." She was already beginning to feel weird. She decided to change the subject, her main objective long forgotten, "But what's been going on in Sindria while I was gone?"

"Nothing much," Sinbad replied. They began to talk leisurely for the next few hours. Neah had gotten far more drunk than Sinbad, having drunk a good bit of the bottle on him. Although he did have somewhat of a buzz going on, he was still sober enough to realize something, "Neah, are you trying to get me drunk for a reason? Didn't you have a reason for coming to speak to me?"

"N-No..." Neah mumbled, then slurred, "yeah, yeah...I had a point... It wasn't to get you drunk though~ ah..." She used one hand to play with her empty cup. Her other hand was on her lap under the table. "I wanted to ask you a question...but after, yanno, we kissed I don't know how to talk to you," Her face a dark shade of pink.

Sinbad frowned, what was she up to? Was it really that easy to get her drunk? He wasn't sure himself why he had kissed the magi back, but his thoughts were interrupted by Neah continuing to slur, "I wonder if I like you... Like, like like you~" The magi looked up at the confused and surprised king.

The magi reached for the nearly empty bottle of alcohol, and Sinbad grabbed it before she could, "I think you've had enough."

Neah pouted for a moment, then began her drunken rambling again, "If I do like like you, then I'm cheating on Yuki..."

Sinbad watched her seriously and asked, "Who's Yuki?" He knew she had a reason for talking to him, but if she was this drunk he wasn't going to let the opportunity to finally learn something else about her slide. He finally had a chance to draw his last card. Who knows what valuable information she has? She knows everything about this time period...

"Hiroyuki," Neah spoke. "My friend when I was a kid... We were gonna get married. I really like Yuki." Neah paused and slurred again, "But I think I like you better cause Yuki was taken by...whatever those bastards are called."

"You mean MWS?" Sinbad offered. "Why would they take him?"

"He was a magi, just like me~" Neah smiled. "Hehe... I miss Yuki... I really want to help him..."

Sinbad was surprised Neah actually had a caring side, I guess she is a bit different than Judar... But he didn't have time to care about that, although it did intrigue him, "Tell me, Neah, what do you know about this time period?"

"Eh?" Neah raised her head from his desk and frowned.

"Would you tell me what happens in Sindria's future?"

The drunken magi looked at Sinbad's completely serious -almost dark- expression. She held an emotionless gaze for a few moments before smirking, "You know, that's why I like you, Sinbad. I hate you for it as well, but you're seriously manipulative as fuck." Neah chuckled darkly, not nearly as drunk as the king thought, "I like how you'll do anything to get what you want. Even coax a drunken, upset, girl into telling you all her secrets."

Sinbad's eyebrows furrowed and he frowned at her, "How are you...? You drank so much, yet you sound sober now...?"

Neah smiled again and lifted her hand that was still under the table. She was moving her hand in a circular motion, a large amount of dark red liquid floating above it. Using both hands to manipulate the alcohol she said, "Tada~" She slowly moved the liquid so it flowed back into the bottle, the king watching her in surprise the entire time.

"So you were trying to get me drunk," Sinbad directed his attention to her face again, "Why?"

Neah shrugged, "I wasn't lying earlier when I said I needed to ask you for help."

"Help? You didn't mention needing help before. Just that you needed to ask me a question," Sinbad raised his eyebrows. He assumed the help she was looking for was with MWS.

Neah, now realizing her mistake, sputtered, "Oh, ah, I...-"

Suddenly, they were interrupted by Ja'far running into the room, "Sinbad, Quick! There's been an intruder!"

~