Philo [MXM] [BOOK 2] ✓

CHAPTER 34: CALM

The next day Rowan wakes Dew up at 8:30, and Dew feels like he just got raised from the dead due to only going to sleep three hours before. Still, he brushes his teeth and does his normal routine. The car ride there is silent, and Dew spreads himself out on the entire back seat with Rowan in the passenger. When they arrive, Rowan leads Dew through the front doors, and down several hallways.

Dew follows Rowan, not really knowing what's going on, his vision blurry around the edges as he genuinely wonders if he's about to pass out. Dew really should get on a regular sleep schedule.

"Captain Rowan, Dew," Marley greets all formally, and he's standing outside of a wooden door, and had previously been talking to someone. Dew blinks at him, and smiles, although it's probably pretty obvious how tired he is. Then Marley is opening the door and leading the two inside. Before he knows it Dew's sitting in this fancy room with a bunch of official looking people that he doesn't know. He doesn't see Nero anywhere, but Rowan is across from him and Marley is at the head of the table, beside him.

"Alright," Marley starts out, and then Dew realizes that he's looking at Dew. "Dew, I recently received an email about how you acquired some valuable information speaking directly with King Alexine."

What? Why is that the main topic? Rowan spent 90% of the trip in meetings, and he didn't find out anything that has caught this much attention from Marley? Dew rubs at his eyes, blinking down at the table and then looking at Marley, who has a polite smile on his face. Okay.

"Uh, yeah," Dew replies, noticing that there is a glass of water in front of him. Something about sleep makes him really thirsty, and the ice mouth caused by brushing his teeth has worn off, so he reaches over and drinks the entire thing. Then, he continues, feeling like he's in a dream. "When we were eating dinner with him or whatever and he lied about why he started the war, and I looked at him weird, so he came to my hotel room a few days later to interrogate me."

Dew wonders if it's the best idea to tell these people this. What if Alexine has spies? Oh well.

"So he was like 'oh you're a lie detector come work for me' and I was like, 'only if you tell me the real cause for the war' so he told me about how Theodoric killed his family and framed him and basically controls the entire world behind the scenes. Somehow. That's pretty much it."

"You don't have any more detail than that?" Some lady asks from a few seats away from him, on the other side of the table. Dew just stares at her for a long moment, thinking about her hair looks like she hasn't washed it in at least a week, before responding;

"What, you want me to write a book? If you want more go ask him yourself."

The woman appears to not appreciate Dew's attitude, but before she can respond, Marley is speaking again;

"Alright. I also saw that you encountered some people who spoke about a cure."

Oh shit, yeah. Dew forgot. He nods, folding his hands on the table and zoning out at the wood for a moment. Then he remembers he's supposed to be answering a question.

"Yeah some people took me because of... reasons, and they said that because abnormalities are an illness, there is a cure, and I need to find it for them. Urgently." Dew's eyes flick to Rowan for a moment, but he immediately looks away when he finds the guy staring at him. When he looks at Marley, the king is subtly looking between the two.

"Okay." Marley says. "Do they believe this will restore peace?"

Dew shrugs. "I don't know. They were just mad at Rowan and abnormalities in general, so they want to give people a choice to be normal or something. I think it would be a good idea."