A lilting piano concerto floated through the café, like silk drifting on quiet air.

Ironwork chandeliers cast just-right light over every corner, beams sifting through frosted glass in a haze of drifting motes.

Wooden tables and chairs sat in ordered lines, fine cups and saucers set like small altars. Coffee brimmed dark and fragrant, with milk foam like tender tufts of cloud.

Hedi leaned against the window lattice and took a sip, calm as still water before dawn.

“Here. For you.” Aveline set a sealed dossier on the table and slid it to Hedi, words landing like measured stones. “About what’s in your head.”

Emotion first: a prickle of caution. Hedi tore the seal and read it end to end, eyes steady as a quiet pond.

Aveline kept talking, her voice thin as wire. “What protects your brain may have an observer effect. Once noticed or measured, it vanishes. But it doesn’t fail; it keeps watch.”

“If it’s magic, there’s no observer effect.” Hedi set the file down, cool as evening rain. “Maybe it’s transient. The moment it’s sensed, it shifts into another form.”

“Another form that can dodge instruments?”

“That’s the trouble.” Her tone stayed flat, like a slate shore at low tide. “Magic should follow transmission rules. Even a curse lacks high intelligence or self-adjustment.”

“Does it tempt you?” Aveline thumbed the copper lighter wheel; a small flame bloomed like a firefly. She lit up and exhaled clouds like drifting silk. “Feels like magic theory is wobbling. Whatever shields your brain is shaking its foundation.”

“Known magic theory,” Hedi stressed, words crisp as rain on eaves. “Human study might cover ten percent.”

“Dark Realm Magic then?”

Hedi flipped to a new page, motion smooth as a crane’s wing. “A third path besides Dark Magic and Sacred Magic. It needs no mana to run.”

“Too bad,” Aveline said, regret a thin shadow on her face. “I need more tests to crack the trigger.”

Emotion first: a stab of annoyance. “Feels good to play me, huh?”

Aveline didn’t answer. She blew smoke rings that rose like pale hoops.

“You said on the phone it’s the key to curing Dark Realm Erosion. And now you don’t have decisive proof?”

“Do ‘key’ and ‘decisive proof’ clash?” she shot back, sharp as a gull’s cry.

“Of course they do. ‘Maybe’ beats swearing oaths any day.”

“How else do I hook your interest?” Aveline tapped off ash; it fell like gray snow. “Work needs interest to stay alive. Novels and films bait readers with suspense and conflict. Research does too. Less conflict makes suspense matter more.”

“Twisted logic.”

“To answer you—yes. Toying with clever people feels great.”

Anger surged in Hedi’s chest like a tide. She pressed her thumb to her lips to steady it. “Careful, or you’ll get burned.”

“You should learn to control emotion.” Aveline’s gaze was cool as still water. “Be unruffled, like me.”

“Dark Magic’s side effects hurt, don’t they?”

Aveline went rigid, a statue under frost. A twitch crawled across her face; color drained from her cheeks and brow, pale as paper.

“When did you know?” she asked, eyes pinned to Hedi like hooks.

“I thought you’d cover with a common-type spell.”

“Do I look that foolish?” Her words snapped like dry twigs. “A cover is a confession in disguise.”

Hedi’s lips curved—restrained yet airy, like a crane taking wing. “You’re in a rush. Don’t rush. Control your mood. Be calm, like me.”

“I assumed… you ignore unknown magic.”

“Sometimes cleverness trips over itself.”

“It’s not so bad,” Aveline said, grinding out the cigarette; the ember died like a falling comet. “You still have to work with the Institute.”

“Your file lays out Dark Realm Magic and the thing in my head. I can self-research.” Hedi’s tone cut like ice. “You purposely skipped Dark Realm Erosion. You only logged the unknown guardian. Annoying.”

“Cooperation comes with constraints, Miss Melvina.”

Hedi finished her coffee and signaled the server for a refill, a small wave like a reed in wind.

Aveline drew another cigarette, white stick like a thin bone.

The music shifted to Renard Sabolia’s Sudden Rain. The volume stayed low, threads of sound drifting like mist through the café. Hedi pictured fish and rain: a silent shower over a boundless sea, fish wandering at ease, unaware of the rain drumming the surface.

“Beautiful,” Aveline said, blowing smoke toward Hedi on purpose; it curled like lazy snakes. “Isn’t it poetic?”

“Sabolia’s breakout piece.”

“Didn’t know you’re into music—”

“Don’t digress.”

Aveline paused. She watched the straight rise of gray smoke, a thin column like incense. “Help me study Dark Realm Magic. I’ll lift the Erosion for you.”

“No. You need to tell me Dark Realm Erosion’s traits and principles.”

“Still want to self-research?”

“Cooperation shouldn’t hold back cards.” Hedi’s voice fell cool as rain. “We’re not fighting to the death. Why keep a secret hand?”

“No problem.” Aveline’s eyes drifted, unfocused as fog. “After you give me your findings on Dark Realm Magic, I’ll reveal things bit by bit.”

“Goldfish memory? You just said no holding back. Forgot already?”

“Mm… I like being passive.”

“Your chips aren’t enough. Dark Realm Erosion is my life on the line. Dark Realm Magic is only a research topic.”

“Don’t say that. I’m also on a crisis assignment.”

“Doesn’t sound simple.” Hedi’s voice was a low wave. “What do you want to do with Dark Realm Magic?”

“Once I know its effects, I’ll know what I want.”

Emotion first: weary frustration. Hedi pressed her lips again, irritation pricking like rain needles. She started to understand Selina—every sentence had to be guessed. It was exhausting.

“If you won’t say it, I won’t hand over my results.”

“Trust helps people build cooperation.”

“I don’t feel your trust.”

“So you hold hostility toward working with the Institute?”

Hedi tapped the table, a crisp knock like a pebble on wood. “Don’t put me against the Dark Realm Research Institute. It’s you I’m opposing.”

“Sorry, but only the Institute can truly help you.” Aveline’s words rolled like a slow tide. “Without its manpower, supplies, and tech, someone like me is a grain in the vast sea. I can’t stir a wave. And you need saving fast.”

Silence settled, heavy as fog over marsh.

This woman’s feel for rhythm was eerie, like a cat stalking at dusk.

“A threat with the art of negotiation,” Hedi said, lips lifting a shade like a crescent moon. “My terms stand.”

Aveline glanced at the wall clock; the hands slid like thin blades. “We have plenty of time. I’ll wait for your good news.”

“You mean I don’t have much time?”

“Don’t over-interpret. I mean it at face value.” She smiled like a fox behind brush. “Of course, you can read it like before—an artful threat.”

“Your file isn’t enough for Dark Realm Magic.”

“The rest will arrive in a few days.” Aveline’s smile warmed, thin as winter sun. “I came to chat, that’s all.”

Hedi picked up the dossier and called for the bill, voice calm as night water.

Leaving, she used the glass door’s faint reflection to study Aveline one more time. Then she bumped the door open with her shoulder and stepped out, mood sour as damp wind.

A monsoon-like gust swept in. The café’s last warmth was stripped clean, gone like breath in frost.