Chasmfall: Chapters 1-2 (The Weirkey Chronicles) (Patreon)

Well, you guys overwhelmingly requested earlier chapters even if it meant later delays. That means you're getting the first two today, and since they're both above average length, this is a fairly long start.

There may be some delays on weekends that a book releases, but otherwise expect a fairly normal schedule through the end of this book. At the end of that period (likely October), I can't say for sure what the situation will be. At that time, we'll see where things are and talk again about my writing plan going forward.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy Chasmfall! It concludes some arcs, brings back certain old characters, opens a lot of new doors, and reveals secrets I've been holding for several books now. Please look forward to it. ^-^

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Chapter 1

"Umm, Theo? How many of the trees are supposed to be walking?"

"Three or four?" Theo looked up from his work and promptly winced at the roiling wave of roots. "Nauda, move! Retreat to our position and form a new barrier!"

Thankfully, after so long working together, Nauda didn't hesitate and leapt backward. Seconds later, the trees rumbled closer, their roots tearing from the earth and before plunging back down. The spiderous advance closed on them primarily from the east, where Nauda's wards flickered for a few seconds longer before beginning to buckle.

In that time, Nauda landed on the giant flower beside him, hand reaching out to accept the fresh petal he was already handing her. They both dropped low to the flower's center and spread the enormous petals above them, the pollen falling over their bodies and masking their scent. Though Theo held his soulhome ready to cast a reverse gravity field at a moment's notice, the trees ground to a halt at Nauda's former position, then began to thrust their roots back into the ground.

"That trader..." Nauda panted for breath and pulled her petal tighter around her shoulders. "He lied to us... about these trees..."

"Aathali often cut corners when it comes to other worlds." Theo got up slowly, watching the tree roots in case any of them decided to go tentacle again, but the pollen seemed to have done its job. "We still have a few fresh petals. Let's try to push in to the center."

"Fine." Nauda dropped off the side of the giant flower, grumbling under her breath.

Theo took a deep breath and refocused before returning to his work, because the flower could draw even worse to their position. His memories of Aathal had served him well, even on an entirely different continent, but this time he was taking risks to harvest sublime materials without Khaluu to save him if he made a mistake.

Though the flower he stood on was the size of most trees, it was dwarfed by the titans of Aathal rising around them. Plants proportional to humans were just parasites in Aathal, ordinary patches of flowers growing around the sides of the larger stems like moss. They tended to flourish in clearings such as this, though few clearings were so dangerous.

Overhead, the guillotine tree hung ominously, not roused even by the new wall of trees that had rushed Nauda. He'd been surprised to hear they grew in the region, only to learn that "guillotine tree" was actually a broad category that included many different species. The blade seeds that hung overhead glistened darkly, but he'd tested them under less tense circumstances and they worked similarly enough that he judged the risk was worth it.

"Is everything alright, Theo?" Fiyu's stealth shielding flickered with a silver light, enough for him to catch a glimpse of her and hear the whisper. "We are mostly surrounded now."

"There's nothing here that can threaten us in the air, so we still have time." He smiled at her, then knelt down to his own work. "We spent enough getting here, we need to find sublime materials enough to make up for it."

She nodded and returned to her task, accustomed to working under such conditions. Though he could no longer see her, he saw some of the delicate blue flowers by the base of the guillotine tree disappear into her aura. Her stealth technique was only growing more powerful, making her the only one who could harvest the flowers without triggering the tree's defensive mechanisms.

Theo had his own role to play, so he got back to work. His tap had been knocked out of place in the rumbling, but he retrieved it and pushed the pointed vine back into the giant flower, deep enough to reach the stem below. When he felt the vine pierce through, he generated a very narrow gravitational field that made the sap within run upward, through the hollow vine and into one of his pots.

The giant flowers themselves were harmless, but if they sensed they were under attack, they released chemicals that triggered other plants they had symbiotic relationships with. Unlike hunting lone animals, harvesting sublime materials in Aathal was all about understanding the complex web of interactions. Though the flowers would react negatively to tampering, they hadn't evolved to deal with reversed gravity, letting him safely drain sap that would otherwise have required a Ruler or Authority to harvest. A Ruler could have used specialized skills to suppress the flower, while an Authority could simply have flattened any retaliation.

Aside from knowledge of Aathal, reversing gravity had been his primary role in their work. Fiyu's stealth had proved consistently valuable after she soulcrafted additions specific to plant-based senses. Nauda had been critical for digging out certain roots, but here mainly supported them by keeping back encroaching trees. Theo still wasn't entirely sure what drew them, though he suspected that their footsteps were brushing against some unknown defensive mechanism.

Nothing further went wrong until Theo had filled all the jugs he had available. He carefully strapped them into the floating mass of the other sublime materials, which had grown considerably during their journey. They were definitely going back to Norro Yorthin richer soulcrafters than they'd left, at least temporarily until they invested all their new wealth into their soulhomes.

"Are you about done?" Nauda asked. She swept the butt of her staff carefully along the barrier lines she'd drawn, but he saw how white her knuckles were. "More of them are moving around again..."

It still looked like ordinary numbers to Theo, but she was right to be worried that the trees might be shifting toward another surge. Since the vast majority of plants on Aathal were stationary, the walking trees tended to trigger cascades of responses against pests. In this case, them.

"I have harvested sufficient flowers." Fiyu again appeared from within her shell of stealth cantae, just long enough to speak and gesture to them. Theo made his way closer, and as soon as Fiyu's technique enveloped him, he passed into a sphere that cast the world outside in bluish light.

Nauda followed slower, still repeatedly checking on her wards, but smiled at them as she entered. "It looks like we have everything we need. Can we get out of here before the trees stampede again?"

"Perhaps that would be safer, but..." Fiyu frowned at the roots she had been harvesting. "I feel that there is a potent source of cantae below. Might it be useful to us?"

"Could be." Theo had to strain to locate anything, since his senses still couldn't equal Fiyu's. "I know other species of guillotine trees often shelter other plants beneath their roots, ones that would otherwise be eaten by sublime beasts. It would be valuable, but likely also the last thing we could harvest here."

"Well, we can't stay much longer." Nauda glanced back over her shoulder at her wards again, or perhaps just at the shifting roots. "Until I find a better material for my warding skills, they aren't going to keep out any of the crawling trees. They won't buy us much time."

"They also won't get too close to the guillotine tree, which will be the bigger threat. Hmm... I have an idea that should work. Nauda, get one of those squirrel carcasses. Fiyu, try to pinpoint the exact location. This could be tight, but we can distract them."

As they hastened to prepare, Theo waited and wondered if that was truly the wisest decision. Maybe it had more to do with the fact that he only had four months until all of them would be venturing into the Chasm of Lamentations, or his growing worries about his progress. It had seemed so much easier during his first visit in the Nine Worlds, and though the soulhome he was building had far greater potential than his original, he couldn't help but be disappointed.

Nauda returned with the giant squirrel draping her shoulder, wrapped in another one of the petals. They weren't valuable as sublime materials, and their group would have left it alone if it hadn't attacked them, but now it would serve a better purpose. When Fiyu knelt down on a root and nodded, Theo took a deep breath and spoke one more time.

"When you throw the carcass, the guillotine tree will shed some leaves and then begin harvesting. Both of those will make it more reluctant to spend resources on anything else, but once we start cutting deeper, all bets are off. I'll stay back to get us out of here, so keep an open line of retreat in case it goes bad."

They nodded and said nothing, perhaps recognizing that any more planning would be simply delaying. Theo gestured for Nauda to begin, since most of the pressure was on her, and she waited only several heartbeats with her eyes closed before she took a deep breath and then hurled the carcass.

It struck the side of the tree with a wet thunk... hard enough to tear off some of the bark. They had a single instant to feel the vibrations before the guillotine tree sent several of its razor sharp seeds plummeting. The blades blanketed the area where the body had struck, gouging deep into everything but the tree's own bark. Even though it had bounced away, the carcass was still chopped into several pieces.

After that, the roots began to twist, seeking the chemical signals from the body. The others were still watching in morbid fascination, so Theo quickly gestured for them to begin work. Still, he couldn't help but look back and see the thinner roots emerging to enter the carcass. Those didn't draw nutrients from the soil, only from animals attempting to harvest the guillotine tree.

As Fiyu began to work her way down, trying not to damage the bark, Nauda used her staff to lift objects from the clearing and throw them against other parts of the tree. Though it was the apex plant in the region and could shrug off most cantae, the guillotine tree hadn't evolved to counter an intelligent distraction.

Still, Fiyu needed to push aside roots and earth to dig deeper, and her actions disturbed the tree as well. She worked with single-minded focus, while Theo found himself watching the shifting roots around her nervously. Worse, the trees on the perimeter of the clearing were beginning to move again...

"Theo, I can't..." Fiyu frowned down at a floor of gnarled roots beneath her, blocking the path to the intense cantae. They might work their way around, but...

"Cut through, carefully. We'll need to rely on speed in the end."

"Very well." Fiyu redoubled her bubble of stealth and then lit up a blade of cantae around her hand. She gingerly cut between two roots, only somewhat burning the bark. When she struggled to lift them away from the others, Theo provided a reversed gravity field to help move them and clear detritus.

Though they were damaging the tree near its core, they were doing much less damage than Nauda, and hopefully not drawing too much attention. Some of the nearby roots shifted more aggressively, but there didn't appear to be any retaliation. Bit by bit, they worked their way through the layer of roots to the sublime material below...

The shift happened completely without warning, the guillotine tree's chemical "brain" flipping from passive to aggressive. Multiple spiky roots reared up, attempting to skewer Fiyu, but they were chopped apart by her blade the next instant. Eyes wide, she turned to him, and he quickly gestured down.

"Stealth is useless, move!" He stepped back out of the stealth technique to yell to Nauda. "We're making a break for it! Get ready!"

No longer easing her way down, Fiyu took a broad swing that sliced through many of the roots. The bark might be able to resist ordinary cantae bolts, but her concentrated edge barely encountered resistance. Though the tree didn't react in any obvious way, it silently began releasing the guillotine seeds over their heads.

Theo had been waiting with a reversed gravity field to make them fall upward, but to his shock a field of cantae rolled over him, trying to suppress his technique. He quickly added several more fields, but he was fighting against the tree and the seeds had already built up momentum falling toward them. If he hadn't developed his speed so much to fight Esaire, he would already have been chopped apart, but instead he had just enough awareness to watch as the seeds fell closer.

Unlike a shield, his field couldn't be overwhelmed by the number of seeds, but he realized that he wasn't going to be able to slow the fastest seeds down enough. Fortunately, Nauda leapt beside them, using her binding technique with both hands. She halted the nearest seeds in midair and threw them upward, smashing into the other seeds.

Just when he thought they had those under control, Fiyu gave a soft cry. She had been resolutely hacking her way deeper, ignoring the rest, but now the larger roots, ones he hadn't thought could possibly move, were grinding closer to try to crush her.

With only an instant to decide, Theo pulled back one of his fields from the seeds and instead cast it directly into the severed root ends. He couldn't pierce the bark, but the ends Fiyu had cut resisted him less, and he exerted so much gravity that they struggled to move.

As soon as she recovered, Fiyu began cutting downward. So close... but the guillotine tree thought that it was fighting for its life and retaliated.

For a moment, Theo stared at everything. Walking trees were surging into the clearing, trampling over Nauda's wards. She had set up several layers, but each one only lasted a few seconds before splintering. More guillotine seeds plummeted, some of them actually bearing cantae, trying to pierce through his own. Nauda strained to catch them before they could arrive.

Theo's soulhome was consuming cantae at full speed, but he was taken to his limit: he could just barely maintain the guillotine seeds at neutral gravity while also keeping the roots at bay. Despite Nauda's best efforts, more and more seeds were collecting overhead, ready to cleave their bodies.

The last ward fell. Tree roots thundered inward. A guillotine seed broke through his field and chopped down just beside him.

"I have it!" Fiyu pulled her hand from the earth, a green glow burning through her fingers. Nauda leapt back to join them and Theo immediately retracted all his gravitational fields to a single column.

With all his power focused, he could overcome the tree's resistance and sent them all falling upward. The guillotine seeds fell above them, but there were more hanging... Theo pulled back just enough for a lateral field that pushed them to the side, away from the tree's lethal boughs.

When they finally sailed far above the clearing, they all breathed a sigh of relief, even though they were falling directly into the sky. Theo did his best to balance out their momentum, though his control still left them bobbing around. The others didn't seem to care, Nauda letting all her muscles loosen while Fiyu just smiled and cradled the seed in both hands.

"That was too close." Nauda struggled to turn around, but had no way to generate momentum in midair. "You got it, Fiyu?"

"Yes." She held up the seed demonstratively. "I am unsure as to its use, but it is an extremely potent sublime material."

"Was it worth it, Theo?"

He peered at the small green seed, examining its cantae. "I believe so, though we'll need to learn more. Plants like this build up cantae over a long period, then use it to grow explosively. Once they're grown, they aren't useful as sublime materials, but before then, they're very potent. We caught this one at almost exactly the right time, I think."

"Flying is fun, but let's get back to the log."

"Actually, I was thinking that we should pick up all of the guillotine seeds. They've already been shed, so I don't think the tree will retaliate, and they must be worth something."

Nauda groaned. "Normally I'd tell you not to get too ambitious, but if it means fewer of those trees in the future..."

Beneath them, the clearing appeared a chaotic mess, but plant life was always messy: it would soon return to the illusory peace from before. Some of the walking trees still crawled around the base of the larger trunk, but many were already moving away. Most of the flowers had been trampled, which would have been a problem if he didn't have all the sap floating beside them.

Theo concentrated on creating a weak gravitational field that would lift the fallen seeds without disturbing anything else. Though he'd stretched himself to the limit, his soulhome was efficient enough that he still had plenty of cantae to manage the different fields. Nauda helped out by pulling the rising seeds together and Fiyu bundled them along with their other supplies.

Once they had gathered as many as seemed feasible, Theo created another lateral field to nudge them to the side, and let normal gravity take hold of them a little. They arched gently over the less lethal forest until they spotted the giant log that had been their starting point. It loomed over most of the other trees, ornamented by a few mushrooms and mosses, but not a threat compared to any part of the forest. Their contacts had left them there and would soon return.

When they landed, Nauda immediately dropped to a seated position, reveling in the normal gravity. Theo carefully lowered their floating bundles, and he had to admit that it was relaxing not to be maintaining that field anymore, even if it had been a minor one. Meanwhile, Fiyu smiled at him over the seed's glow.

"This was a highly successful harvesting trip, was it not?" she asked.

"Perfectly executed, I'd say." Theo couldn't help but grin at the other two. "No serious injuries, and we've gathered more than they expected. Now we just need to wait for th-"

"Did you bring Senka yummies?" As if to puncture his enthusiasm, at that moment the little imp popped up from their supplies. Her hair was tousled from sleeping within them, and he supposed that he should just be glad that she hadn't eaten everything in their absence.

"None of this is edible, Senka," Nauda said gently. Senka promptly stamped her foot childishly.

"No! Senka wants to eat! Senka will go find yummies..." With that declaration, she promptly hurled herself off the log into the lethal woods below.

Theo cursed and cast a gravitational field that sent her bobbing back up, already giggling and almost smirking at him. 

"Why are you being a mean fumpet? Senka just wants yummies..."

"Disturbing the plants here could easily kill you," Theo said flatly, as he used gravity to redirect her far from him. She clapped her hands to her cheeks.

"Whaaat? Senka didn't know that!"

So she claimed, despite the fact that it had all been laboriously explained to her as soon as they'd discovered she had stowed away with them. So far she had yet to get them all killed or offend anyone they needed to work with, but it was only a matter of insufferable time. Theo deposited her next to Fiyu, who promptly began her childcare duties by brushing her hair, which Senka tolerated.

Part of Theo looked forward to leaving her behind when they went to the Chasm of Lamentations, and another part of him feared that she would follow anyway, no matter what he tried.

But for the time being, there was more important work to do, since they were waiting on their ride. Nauda had already begun sorting, so he sat down beside her to help out. Most of the sublime materials would be fully processed back at the Aathali city, but they could still clean and bundle everything while they took inventory.

All told, he'd filled twenty jugs with sap, which would sell for a considerable amount. Those, along with the flowers for Fiyu, had been their primary justification for taking this risky journey. The blades from the guillotine tree had been unplanned, but on other continents they'd been a useful building material, so he thought they'd still have some value. While he was considering how best to scope out the price, Nauda cupped the burning seed in her hands and stared over at him.

"Only one of these. Do you know of any use for it?"

"We'll need to investigate," Theo said, "but I think you can take it. Either as a material for your soulhome or the profits."

"Really?" The way Nauda looked up at him, she actually seemed surprised, so he tried to soften his smile in response.

"Of course. It should help square our debts, after you helped me so much in preparation for the duel against Esaire."

Nauda tossed her head to dismiss the matter. "Oh, you've done enough. I'll consider us even as soon as you return those materials you're still hoarding."

"I intend to, just as soon as my skill improves enough to extract them without damage." He did feel guilty about that, because it mostly had to do with priorities. From his previous experience in the Nine Worlds, he knew exactly how to remove sublime materials from his soulhome, but as an Archcrafter the task required spiritual conditioning. They were running out of time, so he needed to either invest the time or pay someone to do the job. "I'll focus on it as soon as we get back to Norro Yorthin."

"I hope it won't be long. I never thought I'd look forward to the dust, but I've had enough trees for a long time."

"Theo, didn't you say one of your companions was from this world?" Fiyu had miraculously gotten Senka to go back to sleep and set her down before approaching. "It seems as though he served as a relative to you, to teach you so much about this environment."

"Yeah, he taught me a lot." For so many years on Earth, the memories had been painful or bittersweet, but here on Aathal, he could almost imagine his old friend and mentor sitting beside them. "His name was Khaluu... when I met him I was just an Archcrafter, and I couldn't even imagine Authority. Having him as an ally made my life a lot easier, but I think we were truly friends in the end. We all broke through to Stronghold together."

Before they'd all died. The tragedy that had taken all of his former allies no longer tore apart all other thought, but the ragged edges still made him wince. He didn't need pain now, he needed a way to reach Vistgil and take revenge. And... he needed to make sure that the same thing didn't happen to his new friends.

Nauda listened with the patient smile he'd come to recognize, until he paused. "You've always referred to him as male. Do they really have male and female Aathali?"

"I just say that because some of them use the same language."

"Or at least, that's what you hear through soul translation."

Theo gave her a look, since there seemed to be something else behind her phrasing, but given that she didn't want to elaborate, he continued. "As far as I understand it, Aathali are far more complex in that regard. Some species have male and female pollen types, though it's difficult to tell the difference. Others can produce offspring individually, and I've heard about others that have sixteen or more different sexes."

"And your companion Khaluu... he was one of the first?" Fiyu asked.

"That's right. But when trying to soulcraft himself, he made a sort of mistake. It has to do with Aathali soulcrafting and I'm not entirely sure I understand it, but the result was that he gained power, but permanently damaged his body. He wasn't able to produce any offspring, and for his people tending younger shoots was essential. When I met him, he was desperate to soulcraft a solution, but I think he came to treat the rest of us as his children."

They continued speaking and Theo found himself swirling into a strange mix of affection and hatred. He'd spent so long imagining how he could kill Vistgil, he'd never really imagined forming new friendships in the Nine Worlds. Allies had factored into his plans in a nebulous sense, all the more abstract for their intriguing origins, but never truly been people.

If he had fought alone, as he'd originally planned, would he have advanced more quickly? Theo felt as though the person he had been when he first returned would be disappointed in him, and he hadn't yet decided how he felt about that person. Both of those still lived within him, among a mass of imagined selves he'd never realized were so contradictory until he actually returned.

It was much easier to think about soulcrafting. If they'd had more time, it would have been worthwhile to travel all the way to the continent he'd known, where many more materials had been available to them. He certainly needed to find a living material prior to ascending to Authority. But they had no weirkeys, and with the deadline looming, that path simply wasn't a good use of their resources.

"You're all still whole." A voice interrupted his ruminations, and Theo glanced up to see Krijesh ascending the side of the log. She was an ordinary enough Aathali with a birch look, like many of the locals. There had been a few soulcrafters along with their expedition, but she was the only Ruler, and the only one who intended to harvest sublime materials. "I thought the guillotine trees might get the better of you."

"We went in prepared," Nauda said. "You're not going to take our sublime materials, are you?"

"Perish the thought, saplings. I just thought I might rest with you while we wait for our vessel to return. What makes you so suspicious?"

"Having seen your trees, Aathal doesn't seem as welcoming as I first thought."

"Oh, but it's nothing like Fithe." Krijesh's boughs shook with the local equivalent of a chuckle. "Especially these days, everyone rushing into this Chasm. Quite a fearsome event, it sounds. Far too momentous for my taste."

Theo had fully intended to let Nauda handle the conversation, but now whirled to the Aathali. "You know about the Chasm? Do Fithans come here to prepare every ten years?"

"Ten years? Is it ten? I'd heard about it from time to time, but nothing like this... I can see your questions, sapling, but calm your rustling. All I know is that this time, all your Houses have been rushing in. I want no part in Fithan wars, so I've made sure not to pay attention."

She did seem quite determined to stay uninvolved, so Theo didn't pursue the matter. But the last thing he had expected was for an Aathali soulcrafter to mention the Chasm of Lamentations. If Krijesh was old enough to have seen multiple ventures in the Chasm, and if this year was different...

Perhaps she was right to stay uninvolved, but Theo knew it was far too late for them. As soon as they returned to Norro Yorthin, he needed to ask some questions.

-

Chapter 2

Though the others appeared to find it restful to sit atop the log, Fiyu had no choice but to remain alert. All around her, the forest crawled with organisms unknown to her that could potentially be lethal. Natural swaying and intentional movement blurred, endless tiny creatures oozed between plants, everywhere strange densities betrayed motionless life.

Her companions might trust their reflexes and cantae to defend them, but she was more concerned about contact poisons. Friend Theo had some knowledge of Aathal and had acquired more, but it was not nearly equal to what she would consider safe for traveling.

In her experience on Fithe, Fiyu had come to believe that people in other worlds simply had extremely high tolerances for risk. They viewed her as unnecessarily cautious, but she disagreed: Fithans experienced shocking rates of accidents and lost tragic percentages of their populations, unlike carefully protected Ichili children. She could accept that the frequent mistakes were less lethal than they would have been on her home world, but she would never be comfortable with them.

This long journey had been her first visit to Aathal, and she had found it largely more reasonable than Fithe or Tatian. The native Aathali controlled their environments extremely well, carefully cultivating villages without a plant out of place. Saplings were extremely well-protected, and many could even spend their entire lives inside controlled environments, instead of venturing into the unknown forests, much less dangerous clearings like the one controlled by the guillotine tree. They even lacked any customs of unnecessary touching, which she found quite agreeable.

Acquaintance Krijesh appeared more wide-traveled than most locals, sitting and chatting with the others. Fiyu's senses ran over the Aathali again, since they might soon return and she would not get another chance. Though Friend Nauda had said the native inhabitants looked like trees, that observation seemed untrue to Fiyu.

Each Aathali had a solid trunk, but their inner tissues didn't compare to the relatively uncomplicated density of actual trees. Some had thick layers of bark, though Acquaintance Krijesh herself was wrapped only in thin cantae-reactive bark. All Aathali she'd seen had a dense skull-like organ in their center mass, leading to a face that looked surprisingly human, but their number of limbs differed. A few walked on trunk-like legs, while many others crawled on roots or even hovered within pots. They appeared to arrange their boughs overhead quite carefully, growing them into shapes that were both functional and likely aesthetic. Fiyu, at least, appreciated their beautiful complexity.

When Friend Theo had first proposed a long journey into Aathal, Fiyu had been reluctant. She had already seen three new worlds in under a year, so she was moving entirely too fast. However, having completed the journey with many new sublime materials and no losses, she was grateful to have pushed herself.

Since it appeared that their vessel would take some time to arrive, Fiyu retreated into her soulhome. It now rose two full levels, though the second remained largely empty. She was grateful for her new cantae, but Relative Guchiro had given her highly specific plans for the second story. Building and polishing the walls and ceiling was simple enough, which left the much more difficult task of filling those rooms.

Since the duel, Fiyu had not made any attempt to soulcraft those chambers beyond supportive carving. She knew that Friend Theo disapproved, believing that she was delaying again. He had never verbalized as much, but Friend Theo could communicate a great deal with the tension in his muscles.

Though Fiyu knew that she would be weaker without a full second floor, she had sent her message to Relative Guchiro by Biolumin Relay. She had no doubt that he would eventually locate her, and then they would be able to work together to follow the blueprint perfectly. Besides, her delay wasn't slowing her soulcrafting overall, not like before.

Within her soulhome, Fiyu bent down and began chiseling another brick for her shielding wall. It arched around half of her soulhome now, and she believed that she could complete it before they needed to journey to the Chasm. She would have worked to link at least the first floor, but required more foundation stones.

Though the gate to Ichil had not led her home, it did provide an accessible source of appropriate sublime stone. Fiyu had easily been able to use her merits to purchase more of the appropriate types, leaving the construction of her wall down to her soul's tenacity, not resource limitations.

Once the shielding wall was complete, Fiyu would be much more comfortable. Though Friend Theo stressed the defensive capabilities, what she most desired was privacy. At the moment, it was far too easy for other soulcrafters to peer into her soul, even without skills like Friend Nauda's. Her fully polished wall would both keep them out and strengthen her stealth technique.

But facing this Chasm of Lamentations... Friend Theo promised them that he knew it well, but Fiyu remained deeply concerned about the threats it might contain.

What else could she do to prepare herself? Aside from filling her second floor with potent materials, she could think of few options that would not set her back, certainly none that would grant her new abilities. Eventually Friend Theo would return the mistsphere she had given him, she was certain that he would, but otherwise she had few sublime materials to work with.

Outside her soulhome, the Soulsilver Bracers remained her most valuable asset. They were certainly helpful, but they would never reach their full potential until she incorporated them into her soulhome. The trouble was that her entire second story was required for a Corporeal Floor, and her relative's blueprint placed armament chambers on the Ruler-tier floor.

Though Friend Nauda had urged her to reach toward Ruler as well, that was simply too aggressive for Fiyu, not with her second floor still unfilled. She had stopped building upward as soon as she finished her roof, instead dedicating all her time to the more immediately important shielding wall.

Unfortunately, the journey into Aathal was likely to mostly earn her funds to purchase more Ichili resources, because the local sublime materials were largely inappropriate. Too many of them relished the light, or even generated it, and would be inappropriate for her soulhome. Perhaps she would acquire some wood, since Aathal specialized in it, but otherwise she had found little.

Still working in her soul, Fiyu extended a physical arm to pick up one of the guillotine seeds. It was certainly sharp, and might have been appropriate for her blade chamber, but it was weak as a sublime material. The tree had already spent its strength in the real world, leaving less for soulcrafting. Essentially the exact opposite of the seed, which held great potential, though that was most appropriate for Friend Nauda's soulhome.

By the time their wait ended, Fiyu had crafted many additional bricks and come to no true conclusions. She left her soulhome in time to properly examine the vessel as it descended toward them. Acquaintance Krijesh called out happily, and Fiyu felt Friend Theo and Friend Nauda stretch upward to look at it.

Visually the seedship resembled a golden tuft of circular seeds, buoyed by the wind. Fiyu thought that it was far more beautiful in her senses, numerous feathery branches of the plant around a more durable interior. The florets all reflected both light and cantae, resisting like a flexible reed. When the soulcrafter controlling the vehicle created drafts of cantae, the seedship floated on them gently, but Fiyu believed that even many cantae attacks would only blow the seedship about. Fortunately, since Aathal was a blessedly more peaceful world than Fithe, that theory had never been tested.

"No losses in a guillotine clearing!" One of the other Aathali emerged from between several of the tufts. He was a similar species to Acquaintance Krijesh, though his upper boughs were far bushier. "Well, we're not over capacity, so come on up."

The seedship approached them in a circular drifting pattern instead of the smooth movements of an Ichili vessel, but Fiyu found the maneuver elegant. Instead of attempting to control their environment, the seedship's exterior was exquisitely attuned to all the changes around it, simply floating along with them as served its purpose.

Eventually it came to hover not far above the fallen log and their group ascended on a vine rope. Fiyu double-checked that Child Senka had not been left behind or caused any trouble, then took hold of the rope herself and climbed to the seedship. Her strength might not have been equal to the guillotine tree, but many simple tasks were easier as an Archcrafter.

Fiyu didn't enjoy feeling the tufts brush against her, but a section of the bottom had been specially grown to create an opening, so she was soon able to take her place. Though the exterior of the seedship appeared natural, the interior was constructed from light woods and certain petals that were highly durable for their thickness.

Once the entire group had entered the seedship and it had drifted above the trees, Fiyu was finally able to relax. There appeared to be few aerial predators in this part of Aathal, and it was a relief to feel nothing but air in all directions around them.

Not only that, but their journey took them back to the city. Norro Yorthin might be fearsome in many ways, but after so long traveling, Fiyu was happy for anything familiar.

~ ~ ~

Though Nauda's experience of Aathal had been skewed to unusual communities, she thought that she had gained a sense for it. Not enough to truly be a member of their society, of course, but enough that she wouldn't try to sell a mud Fithan water, as the saying went. Her bargaining skills combined with Theo's knowledge were generally enough to avoid being robbed.

Not that the markets were truly vicious. From what she had experience of Aathali society, it operated on a policy of welcoming at a distance. Strangers who passed through were treated quite warmly, but attempts to penetrate deeper were met with an iron first... or perhaps iron branch. Relationships were occasionally deeply intertwined and far more often polite alliances. It made for an easy world to travel and conduct business in.

Of course, that only applied to the sections of Aathal that Nauda had seen. She was more aware than most of just how vast a world could be. So many Tatian villagers traveled their world to the horizon and presumed that they knew everything, and she didn't want to fall into the same trap.

"I suppose you'll be wanting this in that Fithan money?" The merchant counting out the sublime materials was an Aathali woman with bright blue leaves, roughly as wide as she was tall. Nauda had been focused on local currency, mostly fossilized seeds, and now needed to change her focus.

"That Fithan money? I suppose you're used to Norro Yorthin, living here?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter. They all seem to use the same currency, though I don't know how they standardized. That's why they're Fithan Discs." The merchant's boughs shuffled in a motion that Nauda suspected meant uncertainty, though her own left her uncomfortable as to the social cue. "That is, the ones who live on land. I don't know if the ones who live in water use the same money. None of them have ever come here. Do you know?"

"I'm afraid I don't have much experience with them either." Nauda wasn't sure about the polite way to refuse the growing pile of Discs, so she only shook her head. "But I'd actually prefer to be paid in craftgems... presuming you offer those."

"Certainly, certainly. I'll even give you a cheap rate on the discount. Doing some serious soulcrafting, are we?"

"Something like that." Nauda gave her a smile, hoping that the emotion was clear enough. The Aathali did have faces, and their expressions seemed natural instead of artifice, but Nauda was never entirely certain that they were truly comparable.

In any case, the Aathali merchant gave her a huge sack of craftgems that Nauda calculated was really a very reasonable deal. Again, that politeness with strangers. No doubt a few valued local allies could get an even better rate, and Nauda could never reach that status, but there was no attempt to cheat her.

Though she'd use some of the craftgems as currency, she intended more for their original purpose. Among other uses, they could be crystallized into substrates within a soulhome that could bind nearly anything. She'd built altars to house her most powerful sublime materials, only to increasingly feel as though they weren't sufficiently anchored in her soulhome. If she wanted to solidify her blueprint, she needed unifiers, and a lot of them.

With the last of their goods sold, Nauda said farewell to the merchant and headed back to the gate. It wasn't easy to get through, so they'd need to wait for their passes to be approved. The communities of Aathal recognized how hungry Norro Yorthin was and they knew where to draw the boundary line. She could respect that.

When Nauda drew near the buildings around the gate, she found Fiyu waiting on one of the human-sized benches. She looked oddly picturesque there, a dark flower seated atop the branches with life flourishing all around her. Nauda wanted to linger and just watch her for a while, but there was no sneaking around Fiyu, who noticed her and looked in her direction.

"Hello, Nauda. From your reduced burden, I take it that you have completed your business?"

"All the guillotine seeds are sold." Nauda hesitated by the bench, then decided to set down the bag of craftgems in the middle and sit on the other side. "Except for those you kept back, of course."

"I do not believe they are likely to be useful, but I thought it was worth the experiment." Fiyu patted the bag absent-mindedly. "Where are Theo and the child?"

"Senka, I have no idea. Theo should be buying a few more materials with the money from the early sales."

"And do you have nothing you want to purchase?"

"No, I don't think this place really suits me." Nauda paused and glanced over at the other woman. "Are you sure that you don't want to look for anything? These local plants might not fit your soulhome, but they have quite a bit of diversity from other lands."

"Oh... I thought that I would sit and appreciate Aathal a little longer."

"I don't blame you, but we could enjoy a walk. Theo thought that this store would have sublime materials that would fit his grim blueprint, so maybe some of them would be dark enough for you?"

Fiyu tilted her head and examined Nauda in a way that made her desperately wish she had a better idea what the other woman was thinking. But eventually Fiyu smiled and rose to her feet. "I would not mind walking with you, Nauda. I suppose we are much more likely to find appropriate wood here than on Fithe."

So they got back up and headed into the city to find Theo, though Nauda took a longer route to enjoy the environment. She'd thought of the paths as being lined with trees at first, but now she realized how inadequate that concept was: every tree had been carefully cultivated for a myriad of purposes.

A store that sold wood might blend into such a living city, but it was surprisingly easy to spot: a great trunk of petrified wood leaned over the street, carved into arboreal patterns as if countless trees and fused together and then frozen. There was no exterior sign that Nauda could read, which had been an ongoing mystery: soul translation hadn't helped her find any writing in Aathal. Theo said that they used some sort of liquid-based signifier, but she wasn't sure the translation had worked for him, either.

She could hear the dour man himself arguing with the merchant, but didn't hurry to find him. Instead she enjoyed looking over everything on display. The store itself was made of wood, of course, but the wood that it sold was all held in cases that looked like glass but rippled like water. Miniature trees, flowers that grew upside-down, bark formed from living fire...

An ornately carved stump served as a table, and a small amount of sublime wood sat on the surface along with the money. It looked extremely dark, casting shadows in all directions despite the soft natural light. That was essentially what she had expected Theo to purchase.

"What about this?" Theo glanced at them over his shoulder and immediately turned back to the merchant. "You meet my price, but we'll also make several other purchases at fair market value."

"Only if you let me clear out some old stock." The Aathali merchant rapped a branchy hand on the stump. He had at least seven, but this one had seven opposing fingers that easily spun coins between them.

Ignoring the merchant, Theo turned to them and spoke in a lower voice. "Good timing. I think there's something there that you could use, Fiyu."

"Are you certain?" She frowned at the bright shop around her. "These plants are all so..."

"Look at this." Theo guided them both to a display case that held a small tree with black leaves radiating a dark energy. "It's called a darkburn bonsai and they only grow in starlight, letting them ignore the sun. Most importantly, if you set it alight in your soulhome, it will continually burn and produce a great deal of cantae."

"For a heart chamber? It seems appropriate and powerful, but I do not fear it would fit on my second floor."

"How can it not? No, never mind that now. These are easily portable, so could you set it up temporarily and then move it to a different floor later?"

Fiyu brightened, if such a word could be used for her. "It might be appropriate for my Ruler tier. And meanwhile, it would help my second floor be more than simply cantae storage. Thank you for finding this for me."

"Hey, it's helping me strike a better deal. There's not much of a market for these things here." Theo turned away and finished his negotiations. In the end he purchased the darkburn bonsai and a large number of the dark planks. That left a considerable amount of money, by her count, so he must be planning other purchases once they returned to Norro Yorthin.

Afterward they left the shop with Fiyu bearing a smile and the bonsai in both hands. On the walk back, Theo barely seemed to notice the environment, instead toying with something in his pack. Eventually he handed Nauda the glowing seed.

"You might as well take this into your soulhome now, so that it isn't stolen. Fiyu and I agreed we don't have a good use for it, and I think it's by far best suited to you anyway."

"You're sure?" Nauda had half expected him to throw it into that awful black hole in his soulhome just for the power, but accepted it. The seed tingled in her palm, levitating a hair off her palm from the sheer cantae surging from it.

"I did some investigation and found out that it's called a surgestalk seed. Within a soulhome, it can quickly grow into dense material. Not so useful for generating cantae, but excellent for binding chambers together. I thought you could plant it between your main building and the tower, to help tie them together."

Of course he already had a plan for it. Yet as Nauda clenched the seed in her fist, she found herself considering a different use entirely: if the plant could grow so quickly, she could use it to help ascend to Ruler. She'd already fortified her roof and begun a pyramid foundation, but if she could convert it to a bed for the surgestalk, that might be even more effective.

"Thank you, Theo." Nauda had to focus hard to absorb it into her soul, but once there, it began pulsing with potential. "I'll begin work as soon as we get back."

"We should. There are only four months until we need to leave for the Chasm of Lamentations, and we-"

"Really? We aren't even back to Norro Yorthin and you're already thinking about the contest again?"

Theo frowned and was about to reply, but Fiyu spoke up first. "Perhaps it is premature to speak of such things? We all have materials to purchase, and House Blacksilver will reward us for our work. Once we have assembled all our sublime materials, then we can draft a full plan."

It was such a sensible suggestion that even Theo couldn't object, so they managed a relatively friendly conversation on the way back. Senka was waiting for them when they returned, drooling all over the bench. She mumbled sleepily and refused to rise, so Nauda ended up carrying her as they went through security and then finally returned to Norro Yorthin.

Nauda missed the life around her as soon as they stepped through, but when she stared up toward the huge cyclone above the city, she did find herself smiling. In a sense, this city was more of a home to her than Nlukoko or Myufuru had been, and certainly more than home itself.

As soon as they checked in with House Blacksilver and delivered the supplies that had been the excuse for the entire trip, they separated. Theo obviously had his purchases to make, while Fiyu seemed eager for some time in her secured room. Nauda dropped off Senka and instead headed to the Blacksilver office, wanting a different kind of connection.

Antha wasn't exactly a good friend, but the woman who ran House Blacksilver's distribution wing had been a pleasant acquaintance. Nauda did her best to be understanding of the woman's position, and they could commiserate over Theo's aggressive approach to resource acquisition. 

"You're back." Antha gave her a surprisingly broad smile, even rising from her desk to greet her. "I thought that you could handle yourselves, but since some know that you have Chasm Invitations... well, the closer it comes to the competition, the more likely it is that you would be... targeted."

"Does that happen often?" Nauda asked. She didn't want to spend yet more time thinking about the Chasm, but couldn't ignore a statement like that.

"Usually any violence is kept under control, especially since Aathal will react so strongly. But all three of you might want to be more cautious over the coming months, because you never know who might be desperate. Some of the smaller Houses think that getting a Chasm Invitation might be their best chance to settle debts or rise in the city."

"We'll do our best to be cautious. We've earned some more merits for this, so may I take a look at the merit book?"

"Actually..." Antha frowned and placed a hand on the book that Nauda had been asking about. "This is out of date, and a new one hasn't yet been created. Merit prices have changed."

Though she told herself it meant nothing, Nauda didn't truly believe it. "They always do. Is something different about this?"

"There have been some huge economic shifts. Not just in Norro Yorthin, or even the Ruling City alliance, but across the continent. From Maustin to Saan Fraskin to here." Antha gave her a weak smile. "Perhaps you'd better sit down and I can explain this over some tea."