Archcrafter: Chapters 13-15 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

New worldbuilding post on the blog, new chapters here.

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Chapter 13

For two weeks, Theo didn't leave the House Blacksilver complex except in the company of others for assignments. In part out of caution in case Esaire's family intended to strike immediately, and in part because this was an essential period for focused soulcrafting.

In that time, he'd finished the outer walls of his second floor as well as a wooden roof, and he was proud of his work. The exterior was excellent, all glowing with the intrinsic light of eclipsebasalt... the interior was still rough, but polishing that would be the work of months, and non-essential for his current goals. What mattered was that he now had nine new chambers to work with - actually eight - and he could begin filling them with sublime materials.

Unfortunately, that was the last major accomplishment he could manage with brute time and willpower. He could do a significant amount of work carving designs, but that was an enhancement, not a substitute for cantae-generating materials. Fortunately, since Nauda and Fiyu had reported that the Armeau family was behaving, simply training Esaire in the House of Burning Leaves, he could now begin hunting for them.

Theo opened his eyes in the real world and looked around for the others, but the soulcrafting courtyard remained empty. Not yet time for them to depart. As a small token of support, House Blacksilver had let him use one of their special training courtyards. It wasn't anything grand, but it offered a quiet and well-defended place to soulcraft.

Soon enough, they'd come get him to leave on a serious assignment, but he must have a little more time. Normally he would have taken the opportunity to recover, but Theo judged that he could push a little harder. There were many steps he could take toward developing his new technique, even if he couldn't realize it yet.

Returning to his soulhome, Theo entered the central chamber and then climbed up his ladder in the center to reach the second floor. In time he was going to have to come up with a better solution, because moving between floors started to become more difficult at the Ruler tier. However, that was a long term goal, and he hoped that he could come up with a solution that would avoid the need to waste space on staircases, permanent ladders, or anything else that didn't strengthen him.

Though the majority of his floor was solid, the solarstone and eclipsebasalt perfectly merged, he'd left the central chamber completely empty. The meeting point between the floors could use detail work, now that he looked at it. That was the reason he only had eight rooms on the second floor: he didn't intend to create a single heart chamber, he planned to create a heart column.

According to his blueprint, the central chambers would become a pillar of strength for his entire soulhome, but he needed to run tests to be sure exactly how to balance it. What mattered now was that the central chamber on the second floor would serve as a perfect focusing point.

While balanced on the ladder, Theo got out his spirit chisel and began to tunnel shafts that angled down to the four corner chambers on the first floor. Such work would never be possible in the real world, but his soulhome responded to his willpower and gradually reshaped itself. Soon he opened the first shaft and could feel cantae flowing from his chamber for gravitational fields.

Merging the strengths of different rooms was a technique he hadn't understood until late in his first soulhome. It was common knowledge to healers, who frequently mixed specific sources of cantae to produce different types of healing, but he'd had no time for healing back then, it had been just something that was done for him. Now, he intended to use exactly the same concept for rather more destructive purposes.

His gravitational field and torsion chambers each had a practical effect, while chambers that created mass or anti-mass were currently too weak to be useful in combat. Now, however, they would prove their worth as he gathered all four concepts into one. The singularity in the center of his first floor pulsed beneath him.

Soon it would allow him to generate a real black hole.

As an Archcrafter, he knew that the technique wouldn't be overwhelming, a far cry from the devastating technique he hoped to generate one day. But he was certain that it would be viable, based on how his mass and anti-mass chambers had strengthened when he ascended. The event horizon might not be large, but within that range, it would consume all cantae, even a Ruler's. His strategy for the coming duel required him to soulcraft the capacity and then somehow manage to pull it off in a real fight.

It took him less time than he'd expected to create the four shafts, and no one had come for him yet, so Theo decided to take on another task. Stepping back down the ladder, he reached out to grasp the singularity with his hands. Here in his soulhome, it was the heart of his power, so he could move it like he moved every part of himself.

Still, it resisted him when he tried to pull it upwards. He'd created it in the blasted black space of the central chamber and the singularity was in a spiritual sense bonded to it, part of the cantae orbiting around the central chambers. If he brought it to the second floor, it could absorb the cantae from below and eventually manifest.

When he started to pull it between the eclipsebasalt walls, however, Theo felt the pressure intensify. He'd been worried that his singularity might be too weak to function well on his second floor and now realized he might have the opposite problem: he'd been feeding it so much spiritual mass that it was dangerous when not within an environment designed to contain it.

A crack sounded above him and his instincts immediately urged him to pull the singularity back down to the first level. There it returned to its peaceful rotation, humming along in its proper place. Frowning, he climbed back up the ladder to examine the damage.

Fortunately, it had only been some fragments of eclipsebasalt breaking off and falling below. He'd soulcrafted his walls well, so they wouldn't be seriously damaged so easily. However, he now knew that they wouldn't be durable enough to contain the singularity. His hope had been that the dark side of the eclipsebasalt would be equal to the obsidian gloss that had been produced by the catastrophic failure of his first blueprint.

Theo chuckled as he realized the truth: he needed to reproduce that failure intentionally. If he found another sublime material that could implode in the same way, he could reproduce the same reinforced interior. Presumably he'd do the same every floor, which would strengthen the concept of the central column.

That meant he needed to find something equivalent to a noonstone core, which might be a bit tricky, but that was effectively just one more objective. He needed to find four powerful new materials to place in the corner rooms of his second floor anyway.

Clearly, all of that was delicate work he couldn't do while this tired. Theo passed out of his soulhome and rubbed the grit from his eyes in the real world. Still no one, so perhaps he should investigate. He shook off a bit of lethargy and headed into the Blacksilver complex.

It wasn't difficult to find them, as the group was assembling in the landing zone by the western gate. A large chariot of stone stood at one side, not having taken on its wind form. Silver lines of some sort of conductive sublime material linked it to a smaller chariot and his group's sleigh, but no one seemed to be working on them. Everything looked packed and he saw Nauda just waiting in a corner, so he figured there must be some other holdup.

Though Nauda was soulcrafting, her body flickered back to her full presence when he approached. "We're ready to leave," she explained, "but the Ruler who was meant to lead this assignment was injured in some sort of skirmish. I'm not clear on the details, and the way they're hiding them, it must have something to do with House politics. So now they're trying to find another Ruler willing to go talk to the mud Fithans."

"That's an insult, by the way," Theo said. "I'm surprised they didn't tell you that."

"Oh? They told me that they called themselves 'depths Fithans' but I heard the words as just a difference in dialect. Why don't they have proper ethnicity names, since the two groups are so different?"

"It has something to do with both sides considering themselves the true Fithans and the other group invaders. Pure propaganda, as far as I'm concerned, because I think both are native to this world."

"Presumably so, if they can have children together." Nauda's gaze went unfocused over the complex walls and he assumed that she was thinking of Tythes. Obvious as that fact was, it actually hadn't occurred to him. His mind didn't exactly gravitate to family affairs and Tythes was the first hybrid he'd seen.

"Actually, it's possible for some related species to have children, it's just that those children are sterile. So dust and depths Fithans might b-"

"You can take your transcendent scientific enlightenment somewhere else." Nauda faded into a golden blur as she returned to soulcrafting. "I'll remain here to keep track of progress, so just stay inside the complex and somewhat prepared. We should still leave today."

Accepting her dismissal, Theo headed back to the central buildings. He couldn't do meaningful soulcrafting at the moment, but he might as well review the available sublime materials before their journey, now that he had a new requirement. This region in Fithe didn't seem to have any particularly explosive materials, but the House imported from many nations.

He entered the office, noting only that Antha wasn't on duty at the moment. Instead he found the books that listed everything currently available to House members. Though they were ostensibly "gifts" for loyal members, it was essentially a store that accepted only merits. They had lists for armaments and luxuries, but Theo ignored them in favor of the sublime materials book and pored over the familiar lists.

He'd spent over two hundred of his merits on eclipsebasalt, and that had been an exceptionally good deal. If he continued to engage in extra tasks, he'd earn about a hundred every month over his salary, which combined with what he had would reach only seven hundred extra merits before his duel with Esaire.

Looking over the prices, he clearly needed alternate strategies. Theo ignored everything mundane and made a new mental list of items that looked worthwhile.

Voidgum 49 merits

Twilitwood 81 merits

Soulshadow Stone 300 merits

Dark Lantern 420 merits

Bleakburden 790 merits

Chasm Invitation 1000 merits

Esoteric Chisel 2500 merits

The list proved that House Blacksilver had much to offer him, but the total was absurdly high compared to what he expected to earn. Simple sublime materials like the voidgum or twilitwood were relatively inexpensive, though since they'd serve as excellent adhesives and trim, he could easily spend a lot on them. By far the most valuable item was the "Esoteric Chisel", which if he understood it correctly, was of such high quality that it could serve him for the rest of his life.

He set aside those and focused on the major cantae-generating materials: the Bleakburden and the Soulshadow Stone. Each would be a worthy cornerstone of his soulhome, but even those two combined cost over a thousand merits. Just considering that calculation made him realize that he needed to give up on acquiring a Chasm Invitation via merits in the short term. Perhaps after the duel.

Unfortunately, nothing in the book stuck out to him as a promising source of an implosion. There were a few he might ask the House officials about, but he wasn't hopeful. Whatever he found, it would need to come from a source outside the House stores.

That was one of the reasons that he didn't regret that he was forced to spend merits every month for his salary. Yes, having more merits would make those numbers look better, but he needed money as well. A city like Norro Yorthin had numerous markets, many of which might contain the sublime materials he needed... possibly at better prices. He'd need to investigate that more once they returned.

Still, he had his objectives straight. First any opportunity to acquire key sublime materials, second acquiring money or merits, and third doing more work on his soulhome. He needed significant time to polish the new blocks, carve more rooms, and build a stronger roof. That time could come in bits and pieces when he didn't have more critical work to do. It was a good plan for the next six months.

No... five and a half months, now.

Just as Theo began to worry over that in his head, he spotted Fiyu peering in from the doorway, and she smiled when he looked toward her. "Peanen, Nauda says that you should come. We are ready for our journey."

So it was time for them to leave the city and go to meet the other major race of Fithans. It was a rare mission that would offer great rewards... all they had to do was cross a war zone.

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Chapter 14

As the sleigh flew high above the Fithan landscape, Fiyu reflected that its greatest failing was a lack of a roof. The expensive vehicle was comfortable in many respects, and even offered enough room for all of them, but it was completely exposed to the sky above. Though the Fithan sun was not as overwhelmingly intense as the others she had seen, it was abominably large and the red glow seemed inescapable.

If they had been able to add some sort of structure over the top, then she could have watched with a minimal amount of shade. Fiyu considered asking Companion Theo, but he was busy soulcrafting, and then the Ruler who led them, but he was too focused on driving. Companion Nauda would help if she knew how to do such things.

Their sleigh had been lashed to the large chariot, which sped forward in a whirlwind and pulled them at much greater speeds then they could have moved on their own. Another chariot on the opposite side balanced it out, and between them, they hung a net of a glistening sublime material. Fiyu had asked about it and received few answers, only being told that it served no purpose until they used it to carry back the materials they required.

Despite the terrible sun making everything much too red, Fiyu was happy to be in the sleigh again. Within it, especially so high in the sky, her world was easily controlled. No one would assault her door and yell out alarming requests to engage in social activities, as was so frequent in the Blacksilver complex. It was also pleasant to feel the wind and travel to a new part of the world again.

Furthermore, the world outside was much more interesting when it wasn't being experienced as a wall of dust and noise. Though the wastelands beneath them appeared flat at first, and Companion Nauda had complained about them being too monotonous in color, there was more to them than she'd first realized.

First, the dust formed surprisingly large patterns of density, swirls that matched no natural formations she knew. When Fiyu had gotten her fill of examining those, she'd realized that the ground beneath the wasteland was often filled with caverns, and though they contained none of the beautiful crystalline constructs from Ally Navim's world, they were fascinating in their variety. Different regions had very different natures, from those with massive underground chambers to others with pillars breaking free into the air for no reason she had been able to determine.

Allegedly, the landscape would change even more, but she had yet to see any sign of their destination. As Fiyu extended her senses further, she felt a very strange line of tense points. Not density or pressure, actual tension, as if something artificial had been placed in a strained position...

Too late, she realized that they were weapons hurling great stones toward the chariot.

Fiyu rose to her feet and saw the rocks tumbling toward them with deceptive speed, but wasn't sure if her cantae bolts could deflect something so large and heavy. Fortunately, Companion Theo reacted more quickly, leaving his soulcrafting and casting a gravitational field that sent the stones curving skyward overhead instead of colliding with them.

"We're heading straight through!" Associate Ruler gave a call behind and their chariot increased in speed... taking them over a landscape that Fiyu now realized was a battlefield.

More of the rock-throwing devices were employed, but Theo easily redirected those, as well as the volleys of arrows that came from the other side. Fiyu thought she felt two different armies placed on opposing sides, yet now both of them were attacking.

She had no time to think, because a swarm of lights rose from the ground, like golden insects except that they were composed of pure explosive cantae. Companion Theo's gravity had no effect on them, so Fiyu rose and sent bursts of light downward. When they collided with the artificial insects, they exploded quite dramatically, so Fiyu continued to defend them as they raced onward.

Just when she hoped they had passed beyond the battlefield, a vast sphere of flame rose toward them. Associate Ruler finally took a hand, shifting from his chariot to pierce the flame with a line of cantae. But while he was distracted, another boulder flew toward them, this one spinning and glowing with a strange light.

Companion Theo reacted at the same time as Fiyu, but their efforts had no effect: the boulder only spun faster, now terrifyingly close. Just when Fiyu was about to consider her options for evasion, Companion Nauda thrust out her staff, attempting to bind the boulder in place.

She succeeded and was almost immediately thrown back, nearly colliding with Fiyu. In the moment she had arrested the boulder's movement, their vehicles swept low, evading its path and rushing on. Fiyu checked to be sure that Companion Nauda was alright, then looked back, prepared for more projectiles of the strange insectoid cantae, but it seemed that the attack had ended.

For a time they flew in silence, then Companion Nauda straightened and called up to Associate Ruler. "We couldn't take a safe route around the battle?"

"This was the safe route!" Associate Ruler turned back entirely to give a shrug. "If I'd known we'd hit it so early, I would have warned you, but this is about as bad as it will get. Just bored soldiers, nothing too serious. Be prepared for more before we arrive."

Though this answered Fiyu's question about why House Blacksilver had sent soulcrafters instead of negotiators, it was very little reassurance otherwise.

A day later, occasional attacks had become routine, though Associate Ruler made more effort to fly around the war zones in the future. The tension was not so different from ranging in a dangerous area, and Fiyu would have been untroubled if it did not obviously take a toll on the others. Once a bolt of cantae had struck the chariot opposite them, though it hadn't destroyed it, so she attempted to expand her senses to defend all their vehicles.

Companion Nauda reacted strangely, becoming grim and deeply serious. It appeared to make her no less effective, but she seemed unhappy and Fiyu was uncertain why. Meanwhile, Companion Theo seemed to view the regular attacks as nothing but an opportunity to test his new gravity-based skills, constantly sliding back into his soulhome to tweak details. She was happy that it was useful to him, it simply made him uninterested in conversation.

Though unsure how to help Companion Nauda, Fiyu decided to speak to her during a quiet period. "Nauda? I have a question for you. It is not important."

"Go ahead." Companion Nauda smiled at her, though the muscles in her back remained very tense.

"Would it be possible for you to use your barrier skill to help defend us?"

"Not really. The problem with the skill is that it has to be affixed to something, generally something large. If we were on a large sailing seasled, or a big enough flying vessel, I might be able to use one there. But it's a limited skill, built for direct combat."

Fiyu bobbed her head to encourage further talking, since Companion Nauda relaxed slightly. "This is interesting to me. I take it you developed that skill for personal use?"

"Actually, it's not what you might expect. I was first employed as a barrier creator, which is how I got my start as a soulcrafter. That basis was what I developed into a useful skill, but I'm still lacking strong sublime materials that match it. So I have the training, but not a properly furnished chamber."

"I see. Perhaps you could acquire some from House Blacksilver?"

"Perhaps, Fiyu, perhaps." Companion Nauda smiled at her in a way that Fiyu didn't entirely understand, so Fiyu simply smiled back.

As another day elapsed, the attacks from below became more routine, though one that came through the clouds overhead was very alarming. After that, Associate Ruler requested that one of them move over into the other chariot, since the sleigh was extremely well protected between all of their efforts. In the end Fiyu was chosen, and as much as she did not want to be removed from her companions, she felt that she needed to agree for the sake of the journey.

The smaller chariot introduced her to several Fithans, who were friendly and did not attempt to touch her. She learned that their role would be to judge the adequacy of the materials they acquired, but that they would stay far away from their contacts. It was related to the conflict on Fithe, which Fiyu did not yet understand.

Listening to their conversation was not a great deal of help, as they made many assumptions about what she already knew and spoke too quickly for Fiyu to interrupt them. She desperately wished that Companion Nauda was present to control the conversation, or Companion Theo could have explained the matter to her in a more understandable way. Fiyu resolved to ask them when they next slept.

Presuming that she would be returned to the sleigh during the night. To ask her to sleep in the unfamiliar chariot would not have been reasonable.

The next morning, when the sun was just beginning to form a red wall on the horizon, Fiyu finally felt something new: a large body of liquid. She rushed to the front of the chariot to look with all her senses, and even her eyes provided useful information: there was a splotch of blue on the horizon that rapidly grew.

"Almost to mud Fithan territory." One of her Associate Fithans spat over the side of the chariot, his spittle caught in the whirlwind and immediately swept away. "Be careful, Fiyu. They probably won't cheat you, but if they offer you a special deal in their home, don't take it."

"In their home?" Fiyu knew she should turn to the Associate Fithan to be polite, but still wanted to examine the growing line of water.

A long time ago, Relative Guchiro had taken her to the Darkflow and she had laughed and waved her arms as she felt so much liquid beneath them. He had not allowed her to swim, as the waters were filled with many dangerous creatures. They had traveled along the edge of the Darkflow and she had gained great respect for the people who ranged on the floating pieces of ice over the endless deep.

This, however, was a shockingly blue expanse of water. The water Fiyu had drunk in other worlds had been nearly transparent, but this body of it struck her as richly colored. She wondered if it extended on and on, just as the dusty wasteland did behind them, but their vehicles shifted to the side along the coast instead of passing overhead.

"Yeah, mud Fithans don't live in cities." It had taken Associate Fithan so long to answer her that Fiyu had almost forgotten her question, so she politely turned back to him. "They have these spherical huts way down there."

"On the water?"

"Not on the water, under it. You have no idea... deep below the surface, water pressing on every side... I've heard some of them are so deep that there's no light at all. That's why you can't trust mud Fithans, not in the end. Living down there makes you go crazy."

"I see." Fiyu managed to constrain her smile, because she did not think that her Associate Fithans would like to hear that the cities below sounded wonderful to her. It was difficult to control every single facial muscle, but she had been making attempts with her companions so that she could better navigate social environments. "Are they likely to invite us down?"

"Naw, not likely. You hear stories about kidnappings, sometimes, but not usually. Besides, we have an arrangement with them. All of you do your jobs, and this deal should go just fine."

"Our jobs?" Fiyu tilted her head to the side, frowning before she realized what she was doing. "I have not studied negotiation. I was told that I would only be required to escort supplies."

"Oh, don't worry. You just need to stand for House Blacksilver and be non-Fithan."

Stand and be non-Fithan. Fiyu felt confident in her ability to do that.

-

Chapter 15

Though Theo might have taken the assignment due to a cynical calculation of benefits, Nauda had an entirely different reason: she wanted to see the water Fithans for herself. After having heard so much about them throughout the city, frequently in casual asides, she felt certain that there must be more to them. If Fithe was really divided between rock and water, that would make it the only world she knew that was split in half like Tatian.

She'd been impressed at first, when the water Fithans emerged from the depths in a vessel shaped like an arrowhead and leapt to shore. However, she'd immediately discovered that she wasn't able to understand a word they said: apparently understanding most of the languages in Norro Yorthin had exhausted her soul's flexibility.

So all she could do was look as the Blacksilver Ruler spoke to them. It was almost sickeningly picturesque: water Fithans standing in the shallows, land Fithan on rocky ground. Despite the differences of skin color and horns, they struck her as very much alike, even down to the style of their armor. She presumed they must have some organ that allowed them to breathe underwater, but couldn't spot anything that struck her as unusual.

Most people on the street spoke as if Fithe was mired in eternal war between the two sides, though she'd quickly gathered that it was more of a conceptual war. As far as she could determine, both sides were mostly at war with themselves.

According to some senior members of House Blacksilver, there were places on Fithe where true war raged, bloody and terrible. She believed it, given the hatred she saw in them... yet she wondered if the war could possibly be won. Would the water Fithans actually occupy land, and could the land Fithans even survive in the deep cities? If so, what would it gain them?

"Is it going well?" she asked Theo in a low voice. He wasn't soulcrafting, but twitched like he wanted to be, then answered from the side of his mouth.

"This is another stage in a longstanding deal between the two factions. They're trading insults now, but it's coded language testing that we're really House Blacksilver."

"Couldn't they bring some sort of identification?"

"The depths Fithans think the chances of it being stolen in battle are too high, if the House fell to another." Theo's eyes flickered between the sides, then he shrugged. "I'm not sure if they're just being obstinate or if this is actually a problem. We've been referenced several times, and they talked about you, since the depths Fithans hadn't seen a Tatian before."

Nauda sighed and did her best to look foreign. "Would you deign to talk to me about their politics, now that you have essentially nothing else to do?"

"Am I really that distracted? I guess I am, but you know why." Theo gave her a weak smile. "What were you going to ask?"

"I was just wondering about their supposed blood war. If both sides can have a permanent agreement like this, is it really taken that seriously?"

"I'm not sure. When I met Fithans in other parts of the Nine Worlds, they really varied. Some of them considered the fight between the two sides to be... petty and provincial, I think. But others would go at each other's throats without hesitation. Most likely Fithe has a spectrum of everything."

That had been more or less what she suspected, since it was an entire world, after all. Some sort of agreement was reached and water Fithans began to emerge from the shallows carrying nets filled with blue stones. They glowed like a sublime material, something mundane instead of soulcrafter-grade products, so that must be what they'd come to acquire.

Since they still weren't required to do anything, Nauda looked past them, following the bodies as they walked up the shore from a vessel she could just barely see. "The other Fithans said that they have vast underwater cities encased in glass, guarded by swarms of monstrous fish. Think that's true?"

"I believe the underwater cities part, but I don't know about the fish," Theo said. "I've never been to one, but I've seen depths Fithans breathe in water on other worlds, and resist surprising pressures. From what they said, I got the impression that they didn't have much to do with sublime beasts underwater, but I could be wrong."

Nauda continued watching the shipment arrive, reflecting that Theo had changed somewhat in Fithe. He'd been constantly arrogant in Tatian, certain in his knowledge, but here he readily admitted when he didn't know something. In fact, she suspected that he enjoyed the discovery, though at the moment he just seemed annoyed to be distracted from his precious optimization.

Just when she was about to ask another question, loud shouting emerged from the shore. The Blacksilver Ruler turned back to them and Theo ran forward, calling out in the same language the others used. Though Nauda braced herself for a fight, it quickly became more of a shouting match. Whatever was happening, Theo seemed to be smoothing it over.

As that was resolved, the nature of the exchange shifted. The other members of House Blacksilver moved forward to start loading the blue stones into the net stretched between their vehicles. Others unloaded boxes she hadn't seen before and set them out on the shore, opening them to reveal a mix of sublime materials and various trinkets. More water Fithans emerged, these much less military, and some began looking through the supplies while others brought out wares of her own.

So it really was trade in multiple senses. Theo was still busy talking, so Nauda turned toward Fiyu, who smiled at her. "I am glad that there is no need for violence. It seems that this is a time for trade."

"I suppose that both sides have things the other needs?" Nauda asked.

"That is what our Fithan associates told me. Or... truthfully they said that mud Fithans needed to trade sublime materials from dangerous lands for the fruits of civilization."

"Of course they did." Since everyone seemed to have relaxed, Nauda decided that they no longer needed to stand as symbols and instead looked toward the market. "Would you like to see what they have?"

It was a select sort of market, with no food or common wares, only small items of higher value. Despite the prejudice of the land Fithans, Nauda noted many items that obviously required great skill to create, in particular devices made of glass. She lingered for a while in front of a cloth displayed by an old woman who made particularly beautiful twists, somehow imparting color to the glass. The result was spectacular, though Nauda had no idea what purpose they served.

A shout startled her, but it was only the old woman, smiling as she bellowed out the words. "I'm sorry," Nauda said, shaking her head. The old woman muttered to herself in her own language, then poked her in the chest.

"Archcrafter? Come, come." Her words sounded thickly accented, but they matched the language most often spoken in Norro Yorthin. Grateful that the old woman had poked her instead of Fiyu, Nauda let her lead them over to a different Fithan merchant.

As soon as they arrived, Nauda understood. A robed figure of indeterminate age or sex had set up an elaborate wooden case that opened with many different shelves. Clearly an experienced merchant, and the items they sold were of a much higher quality than the rest. Everything she saw was either a powerful sublime material or a well-crafted spiritual tool.

Nauda and Fiyu looked over the wares carefully, testing their nature with cantae, while the hooded merchant watched silently. Though Nauda was impressed by the overall quality, she didn't note anything that seemed particularly necessary for her. She already had her hands full soulcrafting the valuable Archcrafter materials that she'd stored for so long.

On the other hand, Fiyu seemed delighted, finding many materials with strong elements of darkness. The hooded merchant watched her, said something incomprehensible, and then unlocked an additional compartment. Nauda wasn't sure about the purpose of the glass shapes within, but Fiyu let out a gasp and looked through them.

Meanwhile, Nauda spotted something of note: not for her, but maybe for Theo. A dark sublime stone resonated with particularly powerful cantae, giving her a sense of pressure even though it didn't create any in the real world. Another unusual quality was that it looked like dark rock, yet had been cut into a precise shape as if it was a gemstone.

"Nauda..." Fiyu tugged on her sleeve, clutching a small sapphire rod in one hand. "This is an excellent tool for soulcrafting sublime glass. You must help me purchase it."

That might be easier said than done, judging from the watchful gaze of the hooded merchant. Nauda glanced over the rest of the market, noting how the Fithans were barking simple words and holding up fingers to negotiate deals. Perhaps they could do the same, presuming that the merchant was willing to bend for their custom.

"Can we buy this?" Nauda had Fiyu hold forward the sapphire rod.

In response, the merchant's hand fluttered through a series of numbers quickly, not in the order Nauda had expected.

"Uh... we might have to do this a simpler way." Nauda pulled out her sack of Fithan coins to just count them out, accepting that they might be robbed in the deal. If the tool was really so useful to Fiyu, perhaps it was worth the price, since they wouldn't get another chance like this.

Yet as soon as she pulled out the first coins, the hooded merchant made a derisive bark and reached to take the sapphire rod back. So they didn't like money from the city... as she looked to see what the others were using, Nauda saw Theo sitting beyond the market, soulcrafting.

She marched over to him and leaned down in front of his hazy body. "Come out, Theo. We need you to translate."

"Do they really have anything worthwhile here?" He reluctantly returned to the real world and slowly made his way to his feet. When he saw Fiyu anxiously waiting beside the merchant, however, his glower diminished. "Alright, I'll do what I can."

As soon as Theo arrived, he began an intense discussion with the hooded merchant in the other language. It struck Nauda as a sublime beast charging directly through a village, yet it seemed effective, as the merchant soon set down the sapphire rod and Theo turned back to them.

"I've negotiated a deal, but do you have the craftgems?"

"Of course." Nauda reached into her pouch for the sack. "But this isn't just for Fiyu, there was something I thought you might want to look at."

She directed his attention to the dark stone and was gratified to see Theo's eyes widen. He immediately began asking questions of the merchant, who responded slowly at first and then more animatedly. It seemed to be less negotiation than discussion of the material, though Theo's derisive tactics were obvious even through the language barrier.

Eventually they left the merchant, having purchased the sapphire rod and the dark stone in return for a shocking number of their craftgems, including those Theo had been carrying. As they left, Nauda tried to count those remaining, marveling that so much of their small fortune from Deuxan had been spent so quickly. Judging from Fiyu's beaming face, it was worth it to her, and Theo allowed himself a narrow smile once they got further away.

"Thank you, Nauda. This was a good find, and I would have missed it without you."

"Just what is it?" Nauda pulled his arm closer so she could poke the stone in his hand. "I get a sense of pressure from it, but only in a spiritual sense, not physically."

"He called it a trenchgem, and it's exactly what I didn't know I needed." Theo held up the gemstone between two fingers, gazing into it with his deeper senses. "It doesn't exert pressure, just resists it. Apparently these form at the bottom of the ocean, capable of surviving under intense pressures. Not only that, the pressure somehow squeezes it down into this cut shape."

"And all of that makes it a good fit for your soulhome?"

"A nearly perfect representation of one concept I need." His smile faded, because it always did, and Theo squeezed the trenchgem into his soulhome before turning back to the two of them. "I used more than my fair share of our funds to buy it, though, and that cuts into our monetary plans. Just based on our House salaries, we likely won't earn enough before the deadline to purchase anything as valuable as a Chasm Invitation."

Fiyu looked between them, her smile still lingering. "But... this was a successful assignment, was it not? Did you not say that we could exceed our expectations by finding such tasks?"

"It earns us 125 merits each, sure, but that's only part of the way to any meaningful goal."

"Wait." Nauda was willing to let him go on about his plans, but that was simply wrong. "We're getting 175 merits for this assignment."

Theo shrugged off her objection, barely hearing her at all. "Yes, but in the week of travel, we sacrificed the opportunity to earn other merits, which would have been fifty on average. So our net gain is only 125. Hmm... if we could acquire an assignment of this quality every month..."

He wandered back to his soulcrafting, muttering to himself about optimizations. Nauda rolled her eyes, but she also smiled.