Skyvenom: Chapters 1-3 (Patreon)

Here we go, new book! Chapters should be posted every Saturday from now on until the completion of the novel. It may just be a temporary bump from the release, but I'm pleased to see so many new readers along for the ride. ^-^

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Chapter 1

As an Authority, Theo was capable of opening most doors, whether via weirkey or soulcrafting or raw force, but now he found himself facing one that might need to remain closed. He took a step back and the motion was half a glide, his cantae wrapping around his boots instinctively to fly him along the thick branch, away from the hostile guards.

It had taken him a while to adjust to the city of Hurat, with its vast sea of boughs not formally divided and yet still grouped into presumptive clusters. Now he felt it instinctively, not needing to look back to stop at the edge of the current region. More importantly, it put him at a socially acceptable distance from the two Aathali who barred his way.

A city built within a single massive tree had to be rife with secrets, and Hurat was no exception: not only were there locked doors, many of the doors didn't even exist until the locals coaxed sections of the bark apart. It had taken him most of a month to uncover this door even though it was more Earth-like than most: lighter wood paneling inset into the bark of the primary tree. And now that he had come this far, he might finally be stopped for good.

"I meant no offense," Theo said with a placating Aathali gesture. "Is the ancestry library really so inappropriate for outsiders?"

"Researching lineages is acceptable," one of the guards told him. The Aathali lowered leafy arms holding a living spear. "But this place is solely for family. Lineage secrets, personal messages, disease history of ancestors... none of this should be shared publicly."

Theo nodded amiably, trying to imitate the waving bough motion Aathali made. "I understand that, and I'm not seeking unlimited access. But I had a very close relationship with someone named Khaluu, from this very city. It's entirely possible that he would have left me a message."

"If he did, he wouldn't have left it here. You seem to mean well, flesh person... if you really respect our ways, leave the ancestry library alone."

"Please understand, Khaluu was like a mentor to me. Is there absolutely nothing I can do to get access, or learn more?"

The two Aathali guards looked at one another before the second, a deciduous warrior with armored leaves, stepped forward. "There have been rare exceptions where a flesh person has done a great meritorious act for Hurat and they have been considered family. And we do not want the history of old lineages to be lost when their seedlings might be planted. But such acts are rare, once-in-a-generation opportunities."

"I see." Theo continued hovering, watching the two guards and the door behind them. This seemed to be the only path he had left for pursuing information about Khaluu, so he briefly considered trying to force the issue.

But no, that wasn't who he was anymore. It was easy to take that moral stance because he couldn't use most of the organic technology without Aathali help, and in any case there was unlikely to be any information in the ancestry library that he could simply steal. Despite his words, it was very improbable that Khaluu had left any messages for him and it was possible there would be no useful details at all.

Theo realized that this door was going to remain closed... not because he couldn't open it, but because he had other responsibilities. Most critically, he needed to confront Esaire and the Armeau family before they could grow into a serious problem again. And, if he was honest with himself, he missed Nauda and Fiyu. He didn't want to wait in this city for a "meritorious opportunity" to appear, not when he had more important priorities.

"I hope that one day I have the opportunity to help this fair city and learn more about my mentor," Theo said with a bow. "But I respect your customs and so I'll depart for now."

Both guards nodded their upper boughs and he thought he saw relief in their craggy bark faces. If he'd planned to force the issue, by cantae or by reputation, they would have had a difficult time stopping him. Hurat wasn't a particularly important city, so it didn't even have a Stronghold-tier soulcrafter to lead it.

As Theo flew away, carefully avoiding the surrounding branches, he looked over the city one last time. The tree Hurat had been built in was so insanely large that the trunk looked less like a column and more like a flat wall... no, he realized that he had become disoriented and the vast pillar of bark was just one of the branches extending from the true main trunk.

Entire regions of the city were contained within the boughs of the tree, golden-green leaves entirely blocking sunlight. They claimed that in the autumn when the leaves fell, the entire city's culture changed, first in handling the potentially overwhelming piles of leaves, then in the open air. Theo had only been there for a little over a month, so he couldn't vouch for that.

From his perspective, the massive tree seemed eternal and unchanging, endless arboreal pockets with Aathali moving between the homes and shops built into the side of the tree. Only the largest and wealthiest homes even got through the layer of bark to the tree core, and he was told that closer to the base there were entire mines drilling deep to gather tree sap. He'd been too focused on investigating Khaluu to investigate any of that personally.

Theo's apartment was in one of the less desired locations, a neighborhood built atop an exterior branch. He enjoyed flying in the filtered sunlight for a while before he arced down toward the building carved into a twig that poked up from the branch. When he entered, the old Aathali at the desk lowered her thinning boughs to him.

"Welcome back, honored guest," she said. "Your room awaits."

"Thank you, Renuta." Theo smiled at her and pulled a sack of craftgems from his soulhome. "Your hospitality has been wonderful, but I think my work here is done."

"Oh, are you sure? Hurat has so much more to offer..."

"I know it does, but I'm needed back on my own world. Let me pack up my things and I'll turn in my key." Theo finished paying his bill, carefully noting the amount even though this number of craftgems was trivial to him now. Not that he was worried, since Renuta had given him a perfectly reasonable deal. People generally didn't antagonize traveling Authorities.

In truth, he had very little to do in this room - he kept all his critical supplies inside his soulhome, after all. Theo grabbed a few items that he'd left lying around and took a final look at the bed - it was formed of shredded leaves inside some sort of silk and it had been shockingly comfortable. Maybe he should buy one of those for the future.

But for now, all he needed from this random little city was information about Khaluu. As Theo stepped into his soulhome to put things away, he glanced over the information he'd uncovered about his old mentor from his first life in the Nine Worlds.

Throughout their journey, Khaluu had spoken occasionally about his home, giving enough information that Theo had been able to track it down. Judging from the official bark plate records, most of that information had been accurate. Khaluu had burnished his reputation a little bit, as his ancestry seemed to have been on the decline even then and was now extinct. As far as Theo could tell, there was no grand scheme from Vistgil there, just a family declining and leaving fewer and fewer seedlings.

So now Theo had investigated all three of his old companions. Khaluu had been a tired old Aathali and Eratius had been from an impoverished Noveni family - neither seemed as important as he'd believed back then, and there was absolutely no sign that they'd been destroyed, merely forgotten.

Which left Brigana as the odd one out. Years ago when he'd returned, he'd thought he was fortunate to find a place on Deuxan where he could investigate her, but he'd actually been terribly unlucky. Brigana and the ai Teraeves family seemed to be the only part of his life that hadn't been part of Vistgil's plans, somehow deserving of destruction and traps.

That stroke of bad luck had led to the feud with Esaire, then war on Tatian. Theo's thoughts churned on that while he closed out his room and left the twig spire, and he realized belatedly he was doing a poor job of sticking to his new commitment of paying attention to people. Well, at least he hadn't offended anyone here and he'd mostly remembered people's names.

But there was no more time for that. He needed to end the Esaire problem for good, investigate Brigana's family in full, and get a step closer to understanding Vistgil's plans. Time to go back.

Theo removed the signal flower from his soulhome and broke it, sending a message across the Nine Worlds for the Landguard to come and transport him. They hadn't been very prompt in the past, however, so he had just a little more time in Hurat. What should he do with what might be his last moments in the city?

When he'd first arrived, he'd been intrigued by the city built within a single tree and wanted to investigate everything before he came to accept that he didn't have time. There were basically infinite corners of the Nine Worlds to explore and he would never be able to reach all of them. Part of him still wanted to go down to search the base and roots, but that required elaborate qualifications and permissions. Instead, Theo lifted into the air to do what he'd always been able to but had never taken the time... fly to the top.

From outside his neighborhood branch, he could technically see the tree from the outside, but the mind still staggered at the size. It didn't even look like a tree except from a great distance, it was just a mass of leaf and bark textures, all the wrong size, creating an unfathomable mixture that wasn't exactly tree or city.

Even though Theo was flying at decent speed, the green mass of leaves only shifted slowly because of just how tall it was. He'd investigated early on and discovered that the entire tree was a second tier sublime material, otherwise it never could have survived at such sizes. The wood didn't generate much cantae, but it would do a decent job of resisting even Authority-tier cantae. Such defensive materials would have been valuable in most places, but as far as he could tell, this part of Aathal was weak in offensive materials, rich in defensive ones.

That wasn't to say that he'd found nothing. During his time in Hurat, Theo had purchased several Authority-tier sublime seedlings that might be useful for his allies. The only one that he thought could survive in his own soulhome was something called a depthsgrinder, a root that was allegedly useful for building basements.

Beyond those, he'd gained reputable information about similar trees that had something called richamber, a sublime sap so powerful that it was coveted by Strongholds. He'd wanted to pursue it before deciding it would be a poor use of his time: he couldn't rush off after every valuable-sounding sublime material, especially those not yet useful to him.

Maybe after he and the others reached Stronghold, they could return.

Eventually he reached the upper boughs of the vast tree of Hurat - he was so high that the air was thinner and the pulsating sun felt hotter. Theo floated onto his back and basked in it for a while, looking out over the green expanse. City trees were rare even here and the others were many miles away, their vast spires reduced to toothpicks in the distance. The normal-sized trees below them were a sub-ecosystem, growing not from normal rain or nutrients - all of which were absorbed by the city tree - but from the detritus it cast off. From this height they didn't even look like plants, just an ocean of green.

Theo split his attention and continued enjoying the environment while he returned to soulcrafting. He'd spent most of his time polishing up his finished rooms with secondary materials while occasionally taking a break by crafting more bricks. Those were piled on the roof of his soulhome, but he hadn't put in the effort to build a proper pyramid yet.

He had no question about his ability to ascend to Stronghold, either by bricks or by willpower, but he needed to do it at the right time instead of rushing like in his first life. The major problem was finding materials that could fill the two "bridging rooms" between the Corporeal and Ethereal halves of his fourth floor, replacing the temporary elemental gems with perfect matches. His audacious design, which had seemed so clever before, now made finding appropriate materials far more of a challenge.

By focusing on researching Khaluu instead of seeking sublime materials, Theo had likely delayed that ascension for a while. He told himself that was acceptable, since information would be more important than slightly faster advancement. Sometimes he even believed it.

Still, as he continued to soulcraft secondary materials for his bridging rooms, Theo was largely content. His Authority floor was of excellent quality and he'd pushed through all the time-consuming work, so as soon as he found appropriate central materials, he'd be able to ascend.

Part of him regretted signaling the Landguard and beginning the countdown to another confrontation. The idea of ascending to Stronghold first and absolutely crushing the Armeau family appealed to a base aspect of himself, but he thought that would involve waiting too long. He couldn't let the problem fester again, not after all the pain and suffering it had caused Nlukoko. The world wasn't so accommodating as to wait for him to advance forever, so he needed to take action.

He was just beginning to exhaust his soulcrafting stamina when a Landguard snapped into existence, holding a dark wooden weirkey in one hand. She was an older woman, not one that he knew well. Like most of the others, she eyed the Aathali landscape nervously and seemed eager to be off.

Theo could have rushed off with her, but he wasn't in such a hurry and this might be a good time to actually practice what he preached. "I know you have some truly large trees on Tatian," he said with a friendly hand on her arm. "Did they come from Aathali seeds?"

"Certainly not." The Landguard shook her head vigorously. "The two grow from entirely different principles. We have only found a few seeds that are compatible between worlds. Recklessly sowing others... well, it is better not to attempt such things."

"So there's been trouble in the past? Is that related to the problems the Landguard is struggling with?"

Immediately the woman stiffened and he knew he wasn't getting any more information out of her. She gestured toward him with the weirkey. "Let's not dawdle, where to next? You are really pushing our hospitality quite far, you know, making us transport you and your allies around Aathal."

"Not anymore." Theo cast off his relaxation and flew upright, clasping his hands behind his back. "Take me to gather up all the others, then transport us back to Tatian. It's time to finish this."

-

Chapter 2

Every muscle in Nauda's body strained as she pushed against the unrelenting force. All her instincts screamed at her to brace her feet and get better leverage, but she wasn't even touching the ground. Only her newly dense cantae was propelling her forward against the brutal wind, yet somehow she still pushed her body to the limit, as if she could force herself through the air by sheer force of will.

Another shower of razor sharp seeds burst from the wind tree, but they cascaded off her like rain. Her bondsfungi, notemerald necklace, and other defenses all worked together smoothly, coating her with a layer of energy that left her without so much as a cut on her dress.

For almost anyone else, even other Authorities, the razor seeds would be the greatest threat. Nauda was free to ignore them and push her way through the wind, toward the demon crouched in the tree.

After considerable training with Fiyu, Nauda was completely comfortable navigating in the air, but she still struggled against the cantae wind. On her feet, she could have focused on each step, claiming ground one stride at a time. In the air, there were no increments, just an unending struggle that confused all her instincts for pacing herself.

Perhaps if she flew in discrete pushes... there was a difference between the top speed that she could maintain comfortably and how fast she could go if she began burning all the cantae in her soulhome. Nauda pushed forward about the length of her body before stopping and focusing on her anchoring chamber to keep her from being pushed back.

Before she could make another effort, the demon clawed its way forward and opened its maw. It was a second tier beast, so it had a variable potential threat, but it hadn't yet shown any capacities except triggering the wind from the tree. And yet it was focusing directly on her...

Nauda instinctively spun to the side, rolling in midair to avoid the potential line of attack. She was proved right the next instant when a red mist extended from the demon's mouth - it joined the next wave of razor sharp seeds and they caught fire, suddenly sweeping forward as an inferno. Her dodge had gotten her well out of the way... and exposed the Aathali around the circumference of the wind.

"Look out!" Even as she shouted, Nauda reached back with her gloved hand and tried to launch a wave of nullification. It managed to intercept some of the burning seeds and snuffed them out, but the Aathali still panicked as new fires lit up in the forest around them.

"Go, we'll handle this!" Kujish waved a tendril at her. Nauda didn't know the squat Aathali soulcrafter very well, but he was a strong Archcrafter and she decided to trust him.

And so she turned back, wrapping her cantae tighter around her body and pushing herself into the wind. The tree itself was still emitting the vicious cantae wind, all the more intensely as she got closer. She returned to her previous strategy, pushing herself forward one body length, enduring a wave of burning seeds, then pushing again.

Except this time, the demon leapt at her with claws flashing. Nauda's instincts served her this time and she thrust out her staff, trying to bind it in place. Her binding technique might be lagging compared to other portions of her soulcrafting, but it was enough to pin a second stage demon.

At least until the next burst of wind. Nauda grimaced as the seeds rattled off her protective shielding - they didn't do any harm, but they did knock her arm off center, and in that time the demon managed to wriggle away. She tried to pin it again, only to miss as the demon slithered between the branches. From out of sight it belched more mist, forcing her to launch neutralization waves to keep the fires from getting out of control.

Flying, shielding, nullifying, binding... Nauda was flooding cantae into a lot of techniques, yet remarkably she wasn't getting tired. Not only was her cantae now Authority-dense, her volume had been expanding. All her recent soulcrafting had been dedicated to building bricks for her fourth floor, which wasn't terribly exciting compared to dramatic breakthroughs, but she was glad for it now.

Another push of her cantae got her to the tree and Nauda landed gratefully on one of the heavier branches. As soon as she got inside the boughs, the unnatural wind of the tree let up and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Which left her vulnerable as the demon struck her with a column of red mist and burning razor seeds.

The impact only stung a little, but it knocked her back and she was nearly caught by the wind and thrown away. Nauda gritted her teeth and leaned on her anchoring chamber to hold herself in place - she really was glad Theo had convinced her to soulcraft it. She pushed her way back to the branch even as the demon struck again and again, and this time she felt the strain.

When she landed the second time, Nauda stomped both feet, bringing up lines of wards in front of and behind her. The one in front only negated a single burst of red mist, but that had just been buying time. Her real goal had been the line of wards behind her: the next impact only pushed her back against it. That gave her a chance to catch her breath after the long push.

Nauda smiled and rolled her shoulders as she moved forward. The demon rushed at her, all lethal thorns and red mist, but it didn't have a chance now that it had lost its advantageous position. She caught it out of the air with her staff, slammed it against the tree trunk, and finished it off with a stomp.

That finally eliminated the first threat, but the tree was still howling out wind in all directions. She wasn't sure exactly how it worked, other than that the tree obviously wasn't supposed to be reacting so violently. Without the demon inside it would be less risky for her to fly back to the tree, but she didn't want to put herself through the grueling flight again. Nauda checked on her allies and flinched as she saw demons swarming in all directions.

While she'd been distracted, other demons had rushed in and were threatening to overwhelm the Aathali soulcrafters. They'd gotten the fires under control, but they'd failed to notice the demons sacrificing themselves to form a third stage.

The Aathali were mostly first tiers and Archcrafters, so a third stage titan would flatten them effortlessly. Nauda wasn't afraid of titans anymore, since she could overcome them strength for strength, but she might not be able to end the battle as quickly as Fiyu. Considering that this battle had already done damage to their sacred grove...

Sighing, Nauda threw herself off the side of the tree and let the winds take her.

With her flight combined with the cantae wind, she shot back out at incredible speed. When she collided with the forming titan's chest she felt it snap under her and the demon thundered to the ground. Nauda jabbed her staff down into its head to finish it off before it could do any more damage.

Somehow that ended it - either she was stronger than she thought, or the titan hadn't been fully formed. Nauda found herself standing atop its body in the middle of the sacred grove, even more the center of attention than she'd been before. It made her worry about all the damage that had been done... but it looked like the Aathali were cheering.

"Well done!" Kujish beckoned her down from the demon, his fungal face all smiles. "Now we just have to take care of the tree... can you get one of us to the trunk?"

So Nauda had to endure the winds again, this time carrying one small seed-shaped Aathali. All the demons appeared to be finished, so this time she only had to deal with the razor seeds the tree used to defend itself. Though it felt counter-intuitive, there was nothing stopping her from flying backward, using her back to deflect all the seeds and keeping the Aathali safe.

Did she know this one's name? Only Kujish had stuck out to her, as she'd been almost as bad as Theo in this place. She had nothing against Aathali, she was just moving too quickly to put down roots. Or to grasp the culture enough to realize that "put down roots" was a poorly chosen metaphor for this world. Fortunately the Aathali had been patient with all her cultural errors, though that might simply be due to her strength.

Once they reached the tree trunk, Nauda set down the Aathali and watched her soothe the cantae tree. She quickly found her attention drifting - this Aathali technique was similar to stoneshaping, yet not really a technique she could learn. If it took long enough, maybe she should go back to soulcrafting.

While Fiyu had critical sublime materials to target and Theo was investigating his past, Nauda just made bricks. She'd helped a little coordinating the efforts of the others on Aathal, but her primary goal had been finding suitable stone for her fourth floor. It wasn't exactly glamorous, but she had pushed her way through the brute work of making brick after brick at Authority level until she had finished one tower and built a foundation on the other two.

Now came the really hard part: fusing them together. That made her more nervous than just about anything else she faced, even the Armeau family. If she couldn't actually fuse her towers into a statue, then her entire blueprint...

"That should do it," the Aathali woman said cheerfully. "And we couldn't have done it without you. I didn't know an Authority could be so strong!"

"I'm glad I could help," Nauda said politely.

"You treated all those razor seeds like they were nothing! We're all mighty impressed, let me tell you."

They dropped back to the ground now that the wind and danger had passed, and Nauda accepted the praise and thanks from the group. All of their kind words left her strangely discontent. It was true that she was strong compared to average soulcrafters, and she wasn't even weak as an Authority, but she needed to compare to absolutely top-tier soulcrafters like Theo and Fiyu...

At least there was no more anxiety thinking about Fiyu. Nauda smiled automatically as she thought about their reunion, hopefully when Fiyu returned from Fithe to Aathal. No matter what the future held, she was sure that they would be walking the same path.

Technically all of this had been a distraction. She had been seeking out more sublime stone for her walls, then met Kujish and wanted more information about his fungal expertise. He'd been impressed by how the bondsfungi integrated with her and even gave her a sort of sublime dirt that seemed to enhance plant growth. She had yet to properly use it, since that hadn't been her priority, but she was sure it could find a place in her soulhome. Other than that, however, she should have moved on.

"We would like to give you something," Kujish said as he approached. Nauda blinked at him.

"That's not necessary. I don't think many of the materials in this tree would be usable for me, anyway."

"It may appear that way, but this tree grew from the sublime legacy of a great soulcrafter with a mighty Corporeal Floor. There is a treasure here that I think will be appropriate for someone with your sort of flesh. Based on what we just saw, you might be able to use it better than we could."

Nauda followed him back to the base of the legacy tree curiously. Some of the Aathali she had met were comically confused by people from other worlds, but this group seemed to have a strong understanding of non-plant people thanks to a nearby gate to Noven. If they believed there was a material she could use, she was intrigued.

They walked to a lower branch of the tree that she had ignored amid the battle. It was heavy with cantae-emitting nuts... and there was a strange bulb at the end. At first she thought it was a shiny nut or some sort of bud, then she realized it was a rounded cylinder almost as clear as glass. Even though it didn't emit much cantae, the power of it took her off guard.

"This is called a corporealbottle." Kujish gently pushed on the branch, waving it from side to side. "This one is more than mature, so it should only take a little..."

At last the corporealbottle fell from the branch, and it glistened so much like glass that Nauda instinctively wanted to grab it before it could shatter. Instead it bounced off the roots, apparently unharmed. When Nauda picked it up, the power throbbed against her fingers.

"You are familiar with Corporeal Floors, yes?" Kujish asked.

"Of course." Nauda ran her hands over the sides of the bulb, marveling at how the top had fallen away. It really was much like a bottle, except one grown organically.

"The corporealbottle produces an effect similar to a Corporeal Floor, except for only one part of the body. For Aathali, the most common usage is to enhance a single branch. For your kind... it can actually be extremely dangerous. I hope that you know of the dangers..."

"Enhancing one part of the body can put strain on the others, even cause death." She tried not to throw her knowledge around, but thanks to Theo and Senka, Nauda had an understanding of the Five Transcendent Monuments far beyond most people in the Nine Worlds. The mixed danger and potential of such a sublime material weren't lost on her. "You're sure you'll give this to me?"

"You've seen our defenses here... we have few Rulers and no Authorities. We are not worthy of the legacy tree left behind by our ancestor. But you, who have given us so much... we would be honored if you take this and carry it forward to other lands, a spiritual seed on the wind."

"Then I'd be honored to carry it." Nauda reverentially drew the corporealbottle into her soulhome.

She realized this was the first Authority-tier sublime material she'd found for her soulhome. Technically the stone was powerful, but bricks and walls weren't the highlight of soulcrafting. Technically she had a Noveni statue waiting for her at Stronghold, but that was theoretical and still felt too far in the future. But this... she could easily imagine how this would fit into her soulhome and help her become an Authority who could keep up with her companions.

It would be so interesting to learn what Fiyu thought of it... Nauda was just beginning to wonder how soon she could justify going back to Norro Yorthin when she felt new Authorities arriving. Everyone else tensed at the powerful cantae while she relaxed as she sensed Theo and a Landguard.

He descended toward her while giving the Aathali a respectful bow. A bow from a different continent on Aathal, but they understood well enough. Judging from the look in Theo's eyes, it didn't seem like he was here to spend time socializing.

"Something wrong?" Nauda asked. "Is Fiyu alright?"

"Everything has gone right enough that I don't think we can justify spending any more time preparing." Theo glanced briefly at the nearest Aathali before lowering his voice. "It's time to take care of the Armeau problem."

"Then... you got the answers you wanted about your old friend?"

"Sort of." Theo's lips twisted and the intense focus in his eyes finally dimmed. "Perhaps later on I'll learn more for personal reasons, but it doesn't seem like Khaluu had any terrible secrets."

"You know..." Nauda hesitated, not wanting to confront him before eventually deciding there should be nothing unsaid between them. "We could have helped you. Every time one of your old companions comes up, you go off alone to investigate. Do you really think Vistgil is going to attack just because you're looking up an old name? And if he does, wouldn't you want us there?"

Theo blinked in surprise as if he honestly hadn't expected that. There was no animosity between them, not like there might once have been, and he answered even more quietly. "Maybe you're right. This conflict is ultimately all about Brigana and Deuxan, so you might get your wish. But we need to focus on the Armeau family first."

Nauda sighed and accepted that her days of soulcrafting in peaceful forests were over. "The Armeau family has had over a month. They might be running out of resources, but that just makes them desperate. How much preparation are you going to insist on this time?"

"If Fiyu has completed her work, none." Theo's eyes flashed as his focus returned. "We've prepared long enough. As soon as we rally our forces, we strike."

-

Chapter 3

Regrettably, Fiyu had no choice but to leave the beast-filled darkness and return to the light. She gathered herself and stepped through the gate, returning to the unpleasantly bright streets of Norro Yorthin. She didn't even have Friend Nauda to spend time with, as her allies were also journeying between worlds.

"Glad to be back," Associate Janne said, quite irrationally. "No offense, Fiyu, but I'm always on edge in Ichil."

"I am not offended," Fiyu told her. "But the trip was successful, was it not? House Blacksilver now has the connections that it wanted, and you even found a sublime material."

"Oh, I'm not arguing the benefits. Everyone wants connections to other worlds, same as trade routes to other parts of Fithe. But the risks..." Associate Janne adjusted her voluminous robes even though their layers appeared to be orderly. "It isn't the local wildlife that gets you, not usually. The problem is that it's so easy to cause offense, even just trying to trade."

Fiyu nodded somberly. "Yes, this can be very troubling."

"I thought of myself as worldly, but I forget that not everywhere is like Norro Yorthin. Here, people will cut a foreign Authority some slack. But away from gates, people might barely understand that other worlds exist and might not even be flexible with other cultures on their own world. And they do have Authorities, so it's easy to get ambushed."

"But you had me to assist you, yes? Now there should be no more difficulties in negotiations."

"Yes, but - wait, not that way, Fiyu." Associate Janne reached out but didn't touch her, arm tensing before turning into a gesture toward the west. "We're delivering everything to the secondary Blacksilver complex this time."

"Oh yes." Fiyu bobbed her head as if it was only a minor error. "I am still accustomed to the old location."

She played it off as they lifted into the air to fly across Norro Yorthin, but Fiyu was more disoriented than she let on. In her absence, House Blacksilver had continued to expand, and she was still struggling to adjust. The old headquarters complex, while not as enclosed as she would like, was familiar enough to be a comfortable place to stay. But now Blacksilver had multiple complexes and even the original was filled with unfamiliar people.

"Is Blacksilver still stretched thin?" she asked while they flew.

"Not as much as before." Associate Janne frowned as she looked up into the whirlwinds above the city. "It isn't like the early days, when we were pushed to the limit by all our new obligations. We have a strong base in the Dustwind Plateaus now, for example, and over ten Authorities. Now we need to consolidate and not lose our identity."

"Ten Authorities! I do not believe I have met most of them."

"That's actually fewer than you'd expect for a House our size. We're in an awkward middle ground between a major House of a single city and an organization that spans the Ruling Cities, like the House of Coin. Of course, to do that we'd need another Stronghold, and I'm not going to join Dhan any time soon. Speaking of, I have no idea how he keeps throwing himself into other worlds..."

Fiyu simply nodded at this evaluation. The three original Authorities of House Blacksilver were all skilled in their own way, but only Dhan had been able to ascend, with Friend Theo's help. Associate Karchibol was unlikely to ever ascend, while Associate Janne was highly skilled, merely lacking sufficiently powerful sublime materials to improve her Authority floor.

If Friend Nauda had been present, she could no doubt have offered encouragement of some kind. Had Friend Theo been with them, he would likely have said something about their group adding more Strongholds to the House. Fiyu shared his optimism but not his social or linguistic abilities. She remained silent and hoped that her assistance in Ichil had been enough.

Most of the others were journeying on Aathal, taking advantage of the Landguard's agreement to transport them. Fiyu had spent two weeks there before deciding that most of the sublime materials were inappropriate for her and returning to Fithe.

They arrived at the Blacksilver compound, unfamiliar except for the banners and logos. Both of them began unloading all of the sublime materials and other goods they had stored inside their soulhomes. All the items that had felt like they were overloading her storage rooms and field didn't seem so large once they were piled up in the extensive courtyard.

"Is this sufficient?" Fiyu asked. "This will be enough for many soulcrafters, but the armament crafters and others will need more materials."

"This is basically just a sampler," Associate Janne told her. "Authorities usually only transport highly valuable items like the best sublime materials."

"But now that we have made the social arrangements... if we had a weirkey, we could make many trips, much faster than merchants."

"We could do that in an emergency, but it doesn't usually make sense to spend our time like that. Right now, these items are rare, barely seen on Fithe. If we keep carrying them in, though, they'll get less rare with every load. At some point you're basically just using Authorities as wagons, which is a waste of time when there's so much else we need to do for the House."

"I see." Fiyu nodded seriously, even though she already understood most of these economics lessons. She had learned the basics from Relative Guchiro and had gained more practical understanding in her travels.

Originally she had been confused about why Norro Yorthin used relatively few materials from Ichil, despite the easily accessible gate, but now she understood. The Ichili could navigate Fithe with relative ease and acquire what they wanted at market rates, so they had no reason to engage in formal "inter-world" trade. Fewer Fithans were willing to brave Ichil, so they were at a trade disadvantage with the gate serving as a choke point.

Now, however, Fiyu had established what she hoped would be a long term stable agreement. There was a city in the Inner Moonscape, which she had explored as a child, that struggled with poisonous vapors from the vents they used for heat and fuel. Sublime materials from Fithe, generally used to control wind and dust storms, were an excellent match. Now House Blacksilver had an exclusive contract with the city, which would result in a steady stream of Ichili materials to strengthen them.

Even though the others seemed to think little of Blacksilver, Fiyu had come to think of them as an extended kin group. She was pleased to help them, even in a small way. Technically she had an ulterior motive, but the task was worth it for its own sake.

Once they had unloaded all their supplies, their mission and their journey were complete. Fiyu lingered with Associate Janne, uncertain as to the appropriate social norms. The two of them were unquestionably linked through Blacksilver, and Fiyu felt more kinship with Associate Janne than the others, but they were still remote in many ways.

"That's everything, Fiyu," Associate Janne said. "Thank you for your help."

"I was glad to assist," Fiyu answered. "However, Theo will want me to ask... does this mean you will fight with us, as you agreed?"

Associate Janne chuckled. "Yes, I'll support this next push of yours. I promise I will, unless the situation here gets too unstable."

"I have heard little of that. Is there still war being threatened from other continents?"

"There are still diplomatic arguments, but nothing like the Battle of the Dustwind Plateaus. We're still maintaining a truce with the Asplundat Movement too... the problem is, some of our allies there are saying that they're getting interference from outside. Our enemy might be trying to destabilize the continent before using their own forces."

"I see. Then...?"

"Unless war breaks out, I'll fight for you." Associate Janne bowed formally to her, no tension in her body. "You and your group have given us so much, and we can support you less and less as you ascend. It's only fair."

After a few more social rituals, the two of them parted to return to their own quarters. Fiyu investigated to confirm that her friends had not returned, then headed back to the original Blacksilver complex. Being with Associate Janne was not unpleasant, but still involved more interaction than she preferred, so some solitude was overdue. Spending so much time with Friend Nauda had made her forget how draining such interactions could be.

The thought of her potential lifemate kept Fiyu warm through the flight back. Their interactions had been very pleasant since Nlukoko and Fiyu looked forward to their reunion after the brief break. It occurred to her that their separation likely felt much longer to Friend Nauda and she resolved to do something special when they reunited.

For now, however, she was eager to soulcraft. When Fiyu returned to find a room, she was surprised to find that her original chamber had been left untouched, perhaps cleaned but otherwise undisturbed. It seemed very wasteful to keep an entire room prepared for her when she spent most of her time traveling on other worlds.

However... it occurred to her that perhaps House Blacksilver considered it a reasonable investment. Even after their recklessly fast growth, the House still had only ten Authorities, and surely not all of those could be trusted completely. Fiyu herself was an important percentage of their strength, and when she considered her friends, they were an essential pillar of House Blacksilver. It felt very strange to realize that she was important in a way that only Relative Guchiro and other elder relatives had been.

In any case, her room was as dark and peaceful as she would have hoped. Fiyu drank a small amount of water, then sat down and entered her soulhome.

To prepare for the battle in Nlukoko, Fiyu had rushed to form her chambers from all three wall materials and filled them with temporary centerpieces, but she still had a great deal of work to do as an Authority. Even her walls, floors, and ceilings were still terribly rough compared to the smooth surfaces of her first three floors, so she would need to spend a great deal of time polishing them to an acceptable standard.

Haste had also required her to skip a step that left her with some anxiety: she had not been able to expand her shielding wall. Though with it active, she might deceive inept soulcrafters into believing she was a Ruler, one floor was insufficient. She had enough stone, but had not begun the task of building a second layer because the task, though essential, did not grant immediate-enough benefits.

Only two rooms on her Authority floor were truly complete: they had granted her a vastly improved immunity ability, which had saved her life in the battle of Nlukoko. Instead of attempting everything at once like her companions, Fiyu intended to continue soulcrafting discrete advantages. That meant her next step was to polish and fill her magma-walled chambers in order to enhance her lightstorm ability.

When her focus began to ebb, Fiyu failed to place a brick with the exactitude required of an Authority. She didn't frown or reprimand herself, only removed the mistaken brick and rose to her feet to shift activities. There were so many different tasks to complete, she could continue soulcrafting at peak efficiency for a very long time.

Though her first goal in Ichil had been to assist House Blacksilver with trade, Fiyu had held a goal of her own, and this one had worked better than her travels on Aathal. Careful planning, use of trade goods, and the defeat of a titan stage demon had resulted in a new sublime material that was currently held in one of her storage chests.

Fiyu descended to acquire it, gently lifting the flickerconcentrate from the chest. It was a challenging material for even Authorities to use, but well-suited for her plans. Physically it appeared to be an orange stone, though its softness was revealed to her senses and it reshaped itself under her fingers like putty.

Its true potential, however, was revealed when she carried it near sources of light or heat. She held it beside a torch in the real world and the flame dimmed - it didn't gutter out, yet all its warmth and heat seemed to be drawn into the flickerconcentrate, which shifted from orange to red.

In theory she could use that to absorb her own lightstorms and focus them more intensely, partially an improvement of her old technique and partially a new one. In practice, she had yet to figure out the exact form that it should take. Because it was malleable, she could easily shape it into any construct, yet nothing seemed exactly appropriate. When she soulcrafted a plinth, it seemed adequate enough in the center of the room, she simply knew that she could do even better.

Crafting and enhancing sublime materials was an art that she still knew too little of, and she again wished that Relative Guchiro was present to guide her. After seeing the artisans of Ugustial on Noven, she knew that such skills could enhance a material, but she was still limited to the familiar soulcrafting arts she had been using up to this point.

While she thought about the question, Fiyu soulcrafted secondary materials from among all those she had collected through her travels. That part of her blueprint was very certain: cantae would flow from her previous light-aspected chambers below, into the flickerconcentrate chamber, then into the next chamber and out a window in a focused attack.

Of course, she still needed to complete that chamber as well. Polishing the walls and secondary materials was just a matter of sufficient time, but she lacked a sufficiently powerful material for that chamber. Fiyu had not prioritized tracking down one because the requirements were less exact. It seemed likely that they would soon be embroiled in a conflict again, so she needed to prioritize Ichili materials or other highly specific niches while she had the chance.

By the time Fiyu had made significant progress on the flickerconcentrate chamber she felt sufficiently refreshed to return to soulcrafting bricks. It really was a pleasure to be making progress like this again. Just having the polished chamber would give her marginally more cantae and make her lightstorm slightly more damaging, and this room was a major step toward her next qualitative advantage.

Soon, however... Fiyu knew that this rapid progress could not continue forever. She had passed beyond her relative's blueprint, which left her more uncomfortable than she wanted to admit. Even if she was not as powerful as Relative Guchiro, she was contemplating ascension to Stronghold, which was a tier he had not reached. It felt audacious to reach for so much and yet she knew it was necessary, when their enemies wielded so much power.

Before Fiyu could find a solution or fully exhaust herself, she heard a whistle from outside her door. She blinked, realizing that she had been lulled into a sense of security, and then extended her senses to confirm that it was Friend Theo. He shifted his weight outside her door, his entire body filled with tension, so she knew what he was going to announce even before she opened the door.

"It's time," Friend Theo said simply once he saw her. "I'll fill you in on the rest, but we're gathering everyone and going to Deuxan."

"And Friend Nauda?"

"Already loaded up with new materials and talking to the Landguard. Have you had any luck with the Blacksilver Authorities?"

"I have an agreement with Janne." Fiyu shook her head slowly. "I fear we have just parted, so I must go find her again. This will be rather abrupt."

"I just saw her outside talking to Antha about something. Go grab her while I prep the sleigh."

"Yes, I will do this." Fiyu left Friend Theo to his tense preparations and floated back through the Blacksilver complex.

It seemed she would be calling upon their agreement sooner than anticipated. She was uncertain as to what exactly it was... partially an alliance, partially a deal between associates, partially a trade. In the local parlance it would likely be called a "favor" but Fiyu was uncertain as to the exact rules surrounding such things. She was certain that Janne would honor it, just afraid that she would fumble the social element of the request.

Just as Friend Theo had said, she discovered Associate Janne in the administrative headquarters, speaking to Associate Antha. Discussing the distribution and use of the new Ichili materials, it seemed, and the topic likely put them both in a favorable mood toward her. When Fiyu landed on the upper level and approached, they both turned toward her.

"Janne?" Fiyu smiled and hoped it didn't appear too hesitant. "I fear I must repurchase the favor I gave you sooner than expected..."