Yuze had the worst luck when it came to getting stuck in awkward social moments.
It was Fox at the door.
Snake's face fell when he stepped inside. So obvious a child would have caught it, and Yuze felt a flare of annoyance that she couldn't keep her personal feelings about Fox private.
"I apologize for the interruption." Fox bowed. The first sign that he'd interrupted on purpose. Fox never bowed. In the entire time Yuze had known him, Fox always managed to arrive when Yuze was seated or in some random situation, such as training, that removed the social requirement.
"I'm reporting." Snake snapped. "You can't just come in."
"I knocked." Fox straightened. "I also have a report, and mine is time sensitive."
Yuze stiffened. Fox wasn't the type to lie, even if he bent the truth at times. What the hell had he found out in the two days since Yuze had last seen him? Had Finn and the others already found something in the vault?
Snake was scowling, clearly not buying it. "You just reported two days ago. You haven't even left the Camelia."
Yuze turned to her and Fox cocked his head to the side. "Tracking me, are you?" Fox murmured.
Snake flushed. "Hardly. I am merely aware, as is any good intelligence agent."
Yuze frowned, ready to put an end to their posturing.
"That's a fine line." Fox pointed out, his tone so bland he might as well have been reading a weather report.
Snake's scowl deepened. She'd never done well when she thought she was being mocked or ignored. "Watch your tone. I won't be disrespected by some upstart who thinks he knows better than me."
And she had a temper that never failed to come out when she felt insulted.
Yuze launched to his feet, suddenly worried they were about to come to blows. "Enough! Both of you."
They both turned to him, Snake guilty, Fox…most likely not, but maybe. That mask made it impossible for Yuze to know.
"Snake, do you have anything else to add to your report?"
She hesitated, anger still bright and burning, before reluctantly shaking her head. "I had wished to discuss the current events with you. To better understand how I should proceed in the future."
"I appreciate that." Yuze forced a smile. "Perhaps tomorrow, before you leave?"
Face twisted in disappointment, Snake nodded. She gave him a stiff bow and ignored Fox as she left, the door slamming behind her.
Yuze turned narrowed eyes on Fox.
The lithe agent met him head-on, the black eyes of his mask oddly powerful against the white and red of the rest of it. There was nothing apologetic about his stance or aura. "Figured you could use the save."
Unrepentant as always. Yuze worked hard to keep the frown on his face, but the smile broke through anyway. "Damn it. You have to stop riling her up."
"I will, when she stops making you uncomfortable."
"I wasn't uncomfortable." The response was immediate, instinctive, even though he had been a bit. He usually was around her these days. With a sigh, Yuze fell back into his chair. "I appreciate the thought."
Fox shrugged, playing it off as he took Snake's chair. "Always pays to help out the boss."
Yuze snorted. "Like you care about currying favor."
Fox snorted, and his shoulders shook. "Fair point."
Before he could get lost down a pointless road, Yuze focused back on work. "What did you find?"
Fox sighed. "The conclave is happening."
Yuze blinked, confused. "We know that. That's why the tribes are moving."
"No." Fox shook his head. "It's happening right now."
Yuze froze. "What?"
"The Bandri and the other large tribes must have sent envoys ahead weeks ago. The meeting is taking place at the Bandri's southern camp. It started this morning."
"Shit." Yuze dropped his head into his hands. "That moves every timeline up, and we already didn't have enough time to prepare."
Fox let him stew, waiting quietly.
Fear trickled down Yuze's spine. "What else?"
"Someone is selling information to the tribes."
Yuze stared at him. An entirely new level of hatred for that stupid mask. "You have proof?"
Fox shook his head. "Just enough rumor and coincidence to bring it to you."
Suddenly, Yuze felt like crying. He wasn't going to, obviously. But he wanted to. More than he'd wanted to when he'd woken up that morning and discovered Akari had left him. A new war, one enemy within, dozens without, and now a traitor in their midst.
Was the Camelia doomed even with Eirian's magic?
***
It had taken every ounce of control Snake had not to storm off and plan some terrible accident for Fox to stumble into.
This infantile game he'd started over Yuze's time had only been going on for a couple of months, but she was already sick of it. He had no real interest in the First Eye; Fox was too cold and too calculating to ever love someone. A part of her was convinced he was just doing it to get under her skin, but they didn't cross paths enough to justify that kind of attention.
It was probably just one of Fox's games. Or he had a score to settle with Lord Rong and was setting it up.
Regardless of his goals, Snake didn't like it, and as she slipped into the secret passage behind Yuze's office, she started to consider her options.
Fox would need to be dealt with before he could hurt Yuze.
And he'd taken her, the shameless charlatan. She ground her teeth together as she listened.
"The Bandri and the other large tribes must have sent envoys ahead weeks ago. The meeting is taking place at the Bandri's southern camp. It started this morning."
Surprise washed over her like ice. If Fox was telling the truth, and by the sheer level of impossibility of maintaining a lie that big, he probably was, that meant Snake's own sources were either a week behind or they'd been bought.
How the hell had she missed something that big?
She needed to warn them immediately.
~ tbc