Deathseed: Chapters 43 (Patreon)

Just one chapter this week, because it's the last in this book. Epilogue next week, of course, which is still in the same Patreon month. More info at that time.

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Chapter 43

Nothing could scratch Nauda's sense of satisfaction, not even the Landguard. They bustled around Nlukoko, helping energetically as if to make up for doing nothing before. Others made pronouncements about the community and how everyone needed to come together. Now that others had taken all the risks, they embraced the change as if that had been their plan all along.

It didn't matter. She'd saved Nlukoko.

On the other side of the battle, her utility finally stopped being her ability to fight. At first, her ability to speak in Tatian innuendo was essential for smoothing over the tense local politics. Then she spent a while using her staff to scoop civilians out of the water until the Landguard took over that. Now she searched through the rubble.

The city had been damaged, but not nearly as severely as it might have been. No one was crying over the fact that the palace had been completely demolished, so the villagers weren't angry. The Deuxan occupation and their fortifications had definitely ruined more of their homes than the battle itself. If Nauda and her friends done any direct damage, it was probably when knocking down the armament towers.

After throwing aside another board, Nauda spotted him: Arceon ai Armeau lay unconscious amid the rubble from the destroyed deathseed tree. He was still breathing and it looked like his cantae had instinctually begun reinforcing his body, as happened with some older soulcrafters.

"Alright, let's go." Nauda picked him up and carried him to the nearest Landguard. "This man is the grandfather of the Armeau clan."

"And...?" The Landguard man looked back at her, then nervously back toward the others as if he couldn't make a decision on his own.

"Treat him well, but imprison him. His grandchildren are both Authorities, so we need to see what they'll do first."

Once she explained the stakes, the Landguard finally took a problem off her hands. She couldn't imagine them using Arceon as a hostage - the idea of them trying was laughable - but the Landguard could be downright ruthless as a community.

No individual was ever responsible, yet they were effective in the end. Like in this situation, where they'd sat back and conserved their resources while convincing foreign soulcrafters to do their work for them. Even that couldn't ruin her mood. Yes, she'd done what the Landguard wanted, but it was also what she wanted. With Ariano dead, Nlukoko would be more free than it had ever been in her lifetime.

Nanjuma was speaking with several Landguards and she walked closer to listen in. She wasn't used to how attuned her senses were as an Authority and began picking out their words almost immediately.

"-deepest apologies," Nanjuma was in the middle of saying, "but I don't believe I'm worthy."

"Nonsense! You acquitted yourself well in the battle."

"And yet I contributed to the destruction and may even have caused deaths. No, I would feel horrible if I didn't stay to make it right first."

"But... you ascended." The Landguard stared at him as if he'd grown feet on his arms.

"Only with a shameful amount of help." Nanjuma bowed low and retreated. "Please, let me repay my investment to this community."

They let him go and Nanjuma turned to join her. For a while they just walked around the islands of Nlukoko, almost like old times. When they saw an overturned fishing platform, Nanjuma flew over and flipped it upright with strength alone. Not so much like old times.

"So you aren't joining the Landguard?" Nauda asked eventually.

"Not now, and I don't think they can make me." Nanjuma had yet to change his battle-shredded clothes, which made him look like a very un-Tatian warrior. "I will not say the villagers doubt them, but... I believe this is a new era for Tatian."

"Good. We may still need them, but we need more."

Nanjuma turned and grasped her shoulders. "You've done extraordinarily well, Nauda. I know that this may have harmed your impression of us, but I hope that as you travel the Nine Worlds you carry some Tatian values in your heart."

"Of course." Most of those had died a long time ago, but Nauda smiled at him.

"Oh, your friends are here, and so is an old friend of mine. He'll want to speak with you." With that, Nanjuma flew away, leaving her to look for the others.

Fiyu had readjusted her hair and clothes, which made her a lovely dark flower in the aftermath. Theo's sublime clothes had repaired themselves, so he was back to his usual blank self. More importantly for her now, Bimanu walked along with them. He had several other Landguards with him, marching like a formal delegation.

"The Landguard will never formally apologize," he said, "so let me offer my own. This should have been our battle, yet we forced it onto you. We should be ashamed."

"What matters is that Nlukoko is safe." Nauda spoke partially for the audience, but also for herself.

"We agree. As thanks for your service to Tatian, we would like to offer each of you a gift. Please understand, this is not your opportunity to ask for sublime materials or great favors. But we do wish to express our gratitude."

"Protect Nlukoko." Nauda dropped her Tatian good humor and stared at each Landguard in turn. "I want a promise from you that you'll let Nanjuma help the communities in this region and that you'll never make a compromise like this again."

Bimanu swallowed. "We cannot make policy for the entire Landguard, but... it will be so. Nlukoko has a long path to rebuilding and should be protected."

That was her primary concern and she'd managed to shield Nanjuma as well, so Nauda considered it good enough. She had no idea what the others were going to request. Theo was no doubt disappointed he couldn't ask for sublime materials, while Fiyu appeared thoughtful.

"I would like for you to research the deathseeds." Fiyu gestured toward Nauda, who quickly handed her one from her soulhome. "These are very dangerous, and anyone could plant more. It would be better if you understood them."

"That is... very selfless of you." Bimanu smiled at her and took the deathseed. "We certainly do not wish for this to happen again."

With other organizations, that might have been a mistake, but the reverse side of the Landguard's shapeless benevolence was that they'd never exploit the deathseed in another community. Maybe something good would come of it, maybe not. Nauda was more curious about Theo, who stood waiting.

"And you, young man?"

"A weirkey to Aathal," Theo said without the slightest pause.

"That is rather difficult. Our weirkeys are spread rather thin..."

Theo fixed his face in what looked to be a permanent glare.

"Very well, let no one declare the Landguard ungenerous!" Bimanu smiled broadly to try to paper everything over. "At some point we will certainly find one of our Aathali weirkeys and transport you there."

"And back."

"Yes, yes, of course..."

The Landguards said a few more polite words, but for the most part they appeared eager to put the matter behind them. Go back to pretending that they hadn't allowed something like this to happen. Nauda wondered how many similar situations were happening across the planet and if their largest problems could possibly justify their actions. If they were actually dealing with something so vast that it did, that was almost worse.

With the Landguards clearing out, that left her with her friends. Theo's scowl vanished and Fiyu happily looked back and forth between them. Someone needed to break the silence, though, so Nauda stepped up.

"Where are we going next? You said Aathal, but don't we need to worry about the Armeau family?"

"We do, but... not yet." Theo smiled with less tension than she'd seen in a long time. "We've been on a deadline for months now. If we don't take some time to restore ourselves, we'll never make it all the way to the top."

Nauda was already putting Nlukoko behind her and wondering when she could right her next injustice, but she thought she could do that.

~ ~ ~

Confirming that he had a better path to Aathal was good, but Theo couldn't relax after the battle until one more detail was resolved. Given all the rubble in the water, his gravitational senses were nearly useless for searching. Some Tatians appeared to be trying to get his attention and he pretended to ignore them until he eventually realized they were actually solving his problem.

A group of Tatians, not even soulcrafters, were crowding around a net of some kind and gesturing for him. When he got closer, he saw a small figure squirming at the bottom, deeply entangled in the ropes.

"Come out of there, child," one of the residents called.

"No! Feed Senka fishies!" She continued squirming, getting herself further entangled.

To his surprise, many of the Tatians chuckled and one threw down a small fish. Senka snapped it out of the air, then made a face.

"Blecky! Give Senka prettier fishy!"

"There you are." One of the civilians turned to him with a smile. "We saw your child fall into the water and did our best to retrieve her. You're very fortunate that she didn't drown."

Theo blinked and stared down at Senka's thrashing form. He considered humble methods of getting her out, but those would all require clambering down the net into the water. Since the inhabitants of the city had all just witnessed him fighting in a pitched battle against multiple Authorities, he decided that he might as well be flashy: he cast multiple gravitational fields, spinning Senka and untangling her.

"No no noooo! Senka gonna whoopsy!"

"She's quite a handful." The nearest several villagers all grinned at him, as if they were sharing some kind of experience of parenting. "We didn't keep her in the net, we just couldn't get her out. Perhaps you can bring her back once she's calmed down?"

"Maybe." Theo finally got Senka free and flew her up. He gingerly plucked her out of the air, ready for her to vomit or do something else, but she just stared at him while dangling from his hands. "Alright, say thank you to the nice people and let's go."

"Nuh-uh." Senka folded her arms and pouted.

Theo decided that was enough of that. He gave a rueful smile to all the onlookers and put her over his shoulder to fly off. She promptly began wriggling.

"Nooo, Senka wanna stay with the fishies!"

Several people laughed behind them, as if her antics were charming. Even if they didn't know that she was suffering on the inside, Theo couldn't share that opinion. Just when he was about to figure out a technique to shut her up for good, Senka closed her eyes and opened them covered in blood.

"Tatians are so sporping infuriating." She leaned her head against his as if exhausted. "Takes all the fun out of it."

"Are you alright?" He tried to pat her back as a peer instead of a false father.

"I'll manage. Just give me a bit."

"In that case... let's go. I'll risk my life for them, but I don't want to stick around to make small talk."

"Heh." Senka's bloody eyes drifted closed and didn't open again. Even though he thought the curse was reasserting itself, she seemed to be falling asleep. So he just carried her in one arm as he got some distance from the cheerful crowd.

[Theo-sister!]

The next interruption was more welcome. He spotted Krikree on an island below, sitting on a table and chewing through a basket of bread. Nearby Tatians were loading more onto the table, presumably after having seen her role in the battle. In their position he wouldn't have been giving away their food, but maybe they were just overjoyed to finally be free again.

[Theo-sister danger.] Krikree emitted pheromones while still chewing, but her antennae drooped. [Krikree not see. Come too late. Danger.]

[It was close, but it turned out alright.] Theo rubbed the base of her antennae with his free hand.

[Senka-what.] Krikree identified her with mild interest. [Theo carry like food. Not metamorphosis. Metamorphosis what?]

[Good question.]

[What do now?]

[We need to take care of some business, but then we're following this problem into Deuxan. Hopefully to take care of it once and for all.]

Krikree stopped chewing and stared at him. [Krikree stay?]

He bent down beside her at eye level and smiled. [I think you should decide that now.]

[Go with Theo-sister.] Krikree returned to eating the bread, her internal conflict apparently resolved.

It was too bad that both of them were so preoccupied, and Fiyu and Nauda needed time for themselves, because he wanted someone to talk to. The blueprint he'd barely pulled off before the battle had served him well, so the question was how much he had to do to move on. He needed real bridging materials, for a start, and potentially a new singularity if he could manage it before ascension.

Maybe he could ascend soon, but Theo wasn't in a hurry. In his first visit to the Nine Worlds, he'd just reached Stronghold and promptly died due to all his shortcomings. This time he wanted to do it right, with full knowledge of his real goals. That would mean making his new three floors as perfect as the first.

Better to do the hard work now, because there was no telling when his life would be on the line again.

~ ~ ~

From a distance, Nlukoko reminded Fiyu of the Slescan hives. All the villagers scurried around from island to island, making repairs and distributing supplies. They were already returning to life as normal, though that had meant a great deal of stress for her. Her companions' normal life would not resume until they could get some distance from all of the Tatian politics and spend time together.

In order to find some solitude, Fiyu had departed the city to investigate the blackened tree outside. Once, years ago, Friend Nauda had instructed them all to meet by this tree in order to escape the Landguard. At the time, it had been a curiosity to her.

Now they were negotiating with the Landguard as equals and Fiyu wanted to inspect the tree again.

Unlike all the other Tatian plants, this one was dead and bare. She had been partially wondering if it was related to the deathseed, but she confirmed that the species was clearly different. It emitted only a little cantae, for one. Now that her senses were Authority-tier, she could feel beneath the glossy outer layer to the more complex structures underneath. Overall, it reminded her of the petrified Landguard village, except this process felt less natural.

She wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. Before Fiyu could decide, she felt someone approaching in the air.

"Do you need more time alone?" Friend Nauda asked. She wobbled toward the ground, still unsteady while flying. Her movements reminded Fiyu of a baby animal learning to walk and she thought it was very cute, but she decided not to state this.

"I am happy to see you, Nauda." Fiyu smiled and gestured for her to descend. "Do you know what this tree is?"

"Not exactly, but I guess I have more idea than I said before." Friend Nauda landed and looked away as if ashamed. "It's probably a tree from the dark half of Tatian that died on the upper side. Back when we met here I played it off because... well, because I didn't fully trust you yet."

"That is very reasonable, Nauda. We did not know each other well then."

Friend Nauda laughed. "We'd been working together for months and we all fought to save Navim's life, but we didn't know each other?" Her laughter faded and some of the tension in her body eased. "I suppose that's about right. I can't complain, since I apparently take so long to warm to anyone."

"It took me some time to understand Tatian emotions." Fiyu frowned as she looked toward the Landguards flying above the city. "You easily offer emotions I would reserve for close companions, but those can be used to hold someone at a distance from your heart."

"And you already know all the adjustments I had to make for Ichili cultures. But we're not holding each other away now, right?"

"No." Fiyu felt very warm inside and had to turn away, back to the tree. "First, I think we should harvest this."

"You sure? It's durable, but I'm not sure that it's valuable. Just too stubborn for anyone local to uproot."

"I think, if the past ordeal has taught us anything, it is that you never know when a sublime material might be useful."

They worked together to experiment on the tree. It proved surprisingly resistant even to Authorities and only Fiyu's cantae blade could cut it effectively. There was no core but she felt better having all the glossy bark and dark wood within her soulhome. Perhaps one day she could learn more about both it and Friend Nauda. Their time together melted the intense warmth into a happiness suffusing her chest.

"Nauda..." Fiyu took a deep breath and pledged to speak her mind instead of becoming tangled in her own thoughts. "You once said that you have many enemies, many wrongs to right. Are you happy that we were able to help Nlukoko?"

"Amazingly happy." Friend Nauda smiled over the city, but her smile quickly became wistful. "And yet it's strange how it doesn't last. I'm already thinking about everything else I need to do, now that I've proved I'm strong enough to make a difference. Sometimes I think that I need to add reforming the Landguard to my goals, because this system clearly isn't working."

"They seem to be under a great deal of stress."

"That's what worries me even more." Friend Nauda turned to her with a somber expression. "There are stronger people out there than Ariano, and more complicated problems than Nlukoko. Based on what the Landguards said, I'm starting to worry that some of those problems might be well past Dominion. If we wait until we fix everything, we'll never..."

Fiyu waited for the completion of her sentence and then, when the tension in her legs implied it was not forthcoming, smiled as kindly as she could. "That only means we need to keep traveling together, correct? I am very happy to continue walking alongside you, Nauda."

She extended her hand. For a moment Friend Nauda stared at her in such shock that Fiyu feared she had made a mistake, then Friend Nauda gingerly reached out. Hands that had torn apart bricks and monsters and wards touched her fingers as gently as a falling leaf.

There many mysteries to uncover, but there were also wonderful emotions on the path ahead. Fiyu laced her fingers with the other woman and guided her toward the city.

"Last time we were here, you spoke of a beast called a platefish," Fiyu said.

"Oh, I did." Friend Nauda's arm twitched nervously. "It's really not much, compared to everything we've eaten. It's barely even a sublime food, and honestly..."

"I would like to eat this platefish together with you, Nauda." When Fiyu felt her potential lifemate relax, she drew them both onward. "I hope that our battle did not kill all the platefish, because I have been anticipating this for some time. But you should not be concerned, because if they are not available, I am sure that we can come here together again..."