All three individuals in the room needed a few moments to control their surging emotions, and after that, it was Letitia who spoke up first.
She was a pretty woman - with long, dark hair, dimples, and high cheekbones. She had naturally downturned lips, though, so even if her expression was neutral, she would have looked as if she wasn't very happy with something. Typically, this would be countered with the people possessing such lips always keeping them in a smile, but in this case, there was really nothing to smile about.
She seemed to have regained her composure, because she spoke an icy tone.
"If it was just the Head, I would have started to think that it might be an anomaly being caused in my dreams. But you… Although I saw you in a display trinket, what I'm seeing of you now is different from how I remember you. So, clearly, you too have managed to intrude upon my dream to talk to me without triggering everything that I put in place to make sure that all traces would be erased if someone managed to find me. I would also have been put to sleep, and even though I would have had to stay asleep for quite a long time, it would have been worth it. I could have started anew. True, I didn't want to do that because there are certain risks involved, but if I had known that there was the spell like this which could intrude on consciousnesses without triggering Mind Control failsafes...I would have directly chosen that path."
Daneel could guess that because the spell was so important, its existence must be a very well-kept secret. Hence, as he heard Letitia clinically analyse the situation and say those words, he couldn't help but think that this was exactly what he would have expected from someone who had pulled off such an elaborate plan.
This was exactly what Daneel had guessed might be revealed when they set off on this endeavor, but still, it had been pretty surprising to see it by himself.
Even though he had some doubts, most of the facts of the case were now clear to him, but he wanted to hear it all from her.
He didn't need to speak out to make that happen, though, because the Head opened his mouth and said in a stern tone, "Explain yourself. Give me a full account of what exactly happened, and I will consider not sentencing you to a life in the darkest cell that I can find. The only reason that I give you this option is that no one else but you seems to have been permanently harmed in this, but it is a fact that your actions have affected the group whom you call friends in ways which will definitely impact their futures. Also, you created a situation where we had to waste a lot of resources to track you down. Why? Just give all the answers, and I will consider advocating for you in front of the High Council."
Letitia sneered when she heard the part where the Head said that she had affected her group of friends.
After that, she shrugged and said, "I guess I have nothing to hide. Even if I choose not to answer, you'll simply forcefully skim through my consciousness, and that could actually be harmful to me. I don't want you to do that, so I will lay out all the facts of the case. Excuse me if am vague in a few parts because I cannot expose some things without violating oaths, but I think that you will be able to gather enough information from what I will say."
The remarkably little amount of time that was required for Letitia to adopt this kind of attitude startled Daneel, and it made him wonder whether she had been dreading something like this happening before itself.
When she began speaking, though, Daneel placed his full attention on her so that he could finally hear the tale unravel.
"I was taken into the Eternal Blossoms sect when I was found as the sole survivor of my village, and I can guarantee that no one else had seen more death than me at my age in that place. I cannot really elaborate, but it is especially broken people like me that are taken into the sect based on a special test that is carried out on each and every one who enters. After this test, certain techniques are also granted, and these are implanted in our minds to reveal themselves when necessary, and when we are strong enough. I guess you, the Head, must already be familiar with this."
As the Head nodded, Letitia continued.
"It is forbidden to speak of these techniques to anyone else. A few details can be given, but the core workings must always be hidden. Mine was special, and I had a habit of being cautious in everything I did. So, I lied regarding each and every aspect of mine, but almost everyone else in the sect does so, too, because no one wants their power to be exposed. Anyway, I pretended to be innocent, all while looking for ways to use my technique to grow stronger. I initially wanted to do it normally, but there were certain rules in the sect which banned certain kinds of techniques for reasons which were not made clear to us. It looked to me like it was more because the senior leadership of the sect were jealous of people who got these techniques as they hadn't been judged to be capable enough to obtain them, so I decided to take a different route which would allow me to reach the peak and then look down upon those who might dare to stop me. You see, all I wanted to do was get powerful enough so that I would never have to face what I saw so many times in my childhood. It is a common goal in the sect, but probably no one else was more equipped than me to fulfill it. What I needed to do was to find a group with similar power levels but great potential into which I could enter and gain confidence. The body I am currently inhabiting belongs to one who foolishly chased me in the sect, and unknown to anyone, I used special techniques to charm him and bind him to myself. The fool thinks that we are in a relationship, while the truth is that he's only seeing what he wants to see. I made him enter the investigative department, and find out information that I could use to identify the perfect time to sign myself up to enter groups and compete against them to grow in power. I had already chosen the perfect group using the information that he brought me. Other groups at least had small subgroups which would remain united and opposed to new members, but this one was unique as almost everyone was pretty much individual, and I would have no difficulty worming myself into their minds and making sure that I would become an integral part of their so-called 'family'. The technique gives me two different routes. One needs me to make it so that I can convince others to willingly kill themselves for me, so that I can strengthen myself using their Will which has been sacrificed. The other is almost the opposite. It needs me to inspire enough confidence in others before killing myself so that I can use their mourning to increase my own power so that I can eventually reach a state where my consciousness will be able to live on forever even if I never reach the Hero level, and even if I don't obtain wondrous materials like Ker Roots which can be used to prolong the existence of consciousnesses, much like how the Ancient Emperor was supposed to have done. The mourning creates a bond, and through that bond, I would have been able to leach off of their talent and power so that I would be able to grow stronger, while they almost stayed the same. To others, it would simply have looked as if they had been too affected by my death, and had lost their way. I would have completely targeted only two or three of the five, so there could have been no chance of me being discovered."
Using mourning to increase one's power?
Even though Daneel had accounted for many things, this was something that he could never even have thought about.
It was so out of the norm that he was initially inclined to believe that she might be lying, but on seeing the expression of realization on the Head's face, he realized that this might not be the case.
Yet, the Head didn't volunteer any information, so Daneel just continued listening to Letitia.
"The first path of the technique requires long, long periods of time to implement. I chose the second, because even though I would have to give up my body, I had never been too attached to it. Besides, it was safer, as the first had a chance of failing. I managed to gain the confidence of the group, and when we all swore an oath to be friends that wouldn't betray each other, I managed to use some earlier preparations to sneak in a few things and take control over all of them. They were naïve and sheltered up until then, so what can you really expect from such fools? My plan was to make it seem as if an assassin had killed me, so that no one would pay too much attention. I had already checked the records, and there were many cases like those which went unsolved, so my hope was that the same would happen here. Using the oath and the Mind Control, and after laying down many, many precautions which all have apparently been rendered useless, I faked my death and my consciousness entered this body, which I had already prepared. There is a small backlash in such things, though, so after the transfer, my consciousness is a bit fragile. That is why if you forcefully skim through it, it might just shatter, resulting in me entering a permanent sleep. If everything had gone well, I would have recovered in this body and then entered poor, innocent Jessica's mind later to keep leaching off of the others until eventually, my consciousness would have become strong enough that it could permanently exist. If I took it far enough and managed to repeat the entire thing with even more people, I might even have been able to allow my consciousness to break through, which would have allowed me to target Hero level individuals to enter. Congrats on thwarting my plans. It was always all or nothing, and I have no regrets. I tried my best. Do what you wish with me. But know this: I will be valuable in the fight against the Church, and the avenue was also present for me to go to the Church to accomplish the same thing. I didn't use it, because I detest them as much as you. I hope you remember this."
Daneel almost felt like clapping as he heard all this.
All of her preparations had been so thorough that he had had to undergo so many hardships to reach till here, and now that it was all revealed, a sensation of relief flooding through him.
The reason he had expected to find Letitia here was that he had gotten a simple question while thinking about this whole thing: if Letitia was the one who was the culprit, then what did she have to gain?
The only answer to this was that it might be something related to her consciousness, which was the only thing that could possibly be left behind of her in this world, as it had been confirmed beyond doubt that those ashes had belonged to her body.
In that case… What better location than a confidant to store herself?
From the beginning, the objective had simply been to confuse those investigating. After all, this wasn't a very preferred method to grow in power, and it would definitely be stopped. What she was doing could potentially result in the failure is of five other important seeds.
Beside him, the Head cracked a smile, but suddenly, as Daneel went over all the facts of the case one last time, something stood out to him.
Something...felt wrong.
As his thoughts continued down that route, he looked like a man who had been struck by lightning out of a clear sky.