Chapter 566: Crystalline Threads

Corpses didn't generally mean much to Omilaena. They were a fact of life, maybe a message of some kind, maybe just materials for someone, maybe absolutely meaningless. This one, however, left her standing and contemplating for longer than she cared to admit.

The body that had once been Boreas still glistened slightly.

Even though she had been the one to fight him, Omilaena respected him in a strange way. Boreas had been locked into a dead end, with no way forward but to keep supporting an unsustainable system even when he saw its limitations. Given the fundamental weaknesses of crystal cultivation, he had done an extraordinary job of it, displaying techniques no one else did and pressing her to her limit even though she should have overpowered him.

And now he didn't exist anymore. Omilaena realized that a part of her had been counting on the two of them having another conversation at some point, and it didn't seem fair that he should simply disappear like this.

"Why would they even do this?" she asked. "Wasn't he being safely drained of his qi crystals?"

"It was the work of zealots." Krainuun stood not far behind her, shifting regularly, as if he still regretted being persuaded to let her see the body. "There was a time of revolutionary paranoia, filled with rumors that Boreas or Vyorrine or another Diamond Crystallier would return and try to enslave them again."

"And they managed to break into your high security facility?"

"Every facility staffed by people has weaknesses, and regrettably, it is difficult to distinguish between different kinds of zealotry. It is... a shame. I believe that he was beginning to change his mind, toward the end. Being freed of his position seemed to give him time to contemplate, and... no, never mind. Security has been tightened."

Omilaena reached out and touched the skull gently, but there was no affection in her voice. "And what happened to the rest of his crystals? Your statement implied that you hadn't gotten them all yet."

"That is correct." Krainuun shifted uncomfortably. "The zealots who led the attack disappeared. As we had harvested roughly 70%, that means there are unknown forces with some 300,000 qi crystals that are not included in our official accounting."

"That would be 30 crystalliers of the new standard, which is no joke." Crystals underlay everything here, from revolutions to the economy to power, thin shining threads connecting it all...

"Or they could have used them to fund other activities, as qi crystals are highly fungible." Krainuun sighed and shook his head. "Are you done? I do not like disturbing the dead."

"Not yet."

She returned to Boreas, though this time leaving behind all affection. What she needed, the reason she had pestered Krainuun to allow her access, was Physique information. Boreas dying made it more difficult, but she carefully extracted samples of his skin, muscle, bone, and hair. His crystal teeth seemed to be missing, presumably stolen by the zealots.

"And you can use this to improve the crystallization method that Cragrila shows?" Krainuun asked.

"Oh yes." Omilaena smiled over her shoulder at him. "Did you think I was lying about that just to get access? No, I'm fascinated by Krysal's abilities. I have been for a long time, but now I'm getting closer to actually figuring it out."

"I have a number of agents I believe would use such power judiciously. If you assisted them, I would consider it adequate payment."

"I wouldn't." Finishing her work, Omilaena turned to face Krainuun completely. "I'll give you my wholehearted support to all your agents if you give me the information you have about the faction that killed Boreas and stole the crystals."

Krainuun didn't answer immediately, simply meeting her gaze. Omilaena wasn't intimidated by him, not really, but it was strange to talk to a man who couldn't be twisted around her finger and was too smart to be manipulated easily. As his jaw shifted and he began to open his mouth, she knew what he was going to say.

"I don't think I want you conducting clandestine operations in Krysal," Krainuun said. "You mean well, and I don't like this rogue faction, but I don't believe Krysal will be served by you taking a direct hand."

"Alright, suit yourself." Omilaena threw up her hands. "I'm mostly interested in the science of it, so if you're going to be so stubborn, I'll let you deal with your own problems."

Not truly, of course, but she'd keep that to herself.

As they left the secure chamber, Omilaena looked back one more time. She realized, now that it was too late, that there had been another path for her life here. In theory she could have made an alliance with Boreas, or returned earlier and taken him while he was alive. Of course she wouldn't give up Zin Nim and Kai for that, but she still felt strangely melancholy to think about those paths that had withered away.

On the way out, Omilaena glanced over at Krainuun again. "So why did you make this so difficult? Was that so painful?"

"That remains to be seen," the administrator told her. "I... do not like this concentration of power, where a million crystals reside in a single person. You cannot say where your work will take you, so I can only hope that it will not lead to more like Boreas."

"That doesn't seem likely." Omilaena smiled wistfully. "That isn't the direction my work is going, and in any case... there aren't many like him."

.

..

.

Omilaena couldn't unravel all the pathways that qi crystals took, and didn't have the patience for it, but that didn't mean she was unable to work via other paths. Krainuun was only one of the men she was working on - only a day later she met Maggle in a bar to discuss another of her little social projects.

"I don't know..." Maggle was delaying the inevitable for his own ego. "This is important stuff, and you're not technically part of the council."

"Oh, come on." Omilaena leaned in closer. "You know I can never get anywhere near people like that, so I want to hear..."

"Yes, but this is serious shit. All those rumors about crystalliers taking back the country, it actually being true somewhere - that sort of thing gets people killed. Not really idle conversation."

"Why do you think I had a drink with you? I knew you wouldn't just bullshit me with random words, you're doing real work in Krysal. Come on, are you telling me that it isn't an interesting story?"

She leaned forward even more, giving Maggle a look straight down her cleavage. For this meeting, she'd worn one of her hip-hugging dresses that showed a lot of leg, which had him addled even before he started drinking. Maggle wasn't exactly subtle about staring and so he wasn't thinking clearly as he began to tell her what he'd discovered.

It was bizarre, honestly. Omilaena understood lust, but she couldn't understand letting it control her. If a man wanted to fuck her, she got why he'd be manipulated, but Maggle should have been smart enough to realize that nothing was going to happen between them.

Apparently not, because he gave her the names of the crystallier faction.

Once Maggle had been drunk under the table, and Omilaena planted a lipstick kiss on his cheek, she left the bar, no longer bothering to sway. Now, after all of her various attempts, she finally had a target.

According to her best estimation, there were at least three Krysali factions so radical that they were better off gone - possibly four, if Krainuun's thieves were a different group. Two of them were ex-slave groups that wanted to return to the revolutionary warpath, and Omilaena had failed to get close to them. But the last one was a group of merchants who really did want to undo the revolution.

Now, thanks to Maggle, she had names and locations. If they all suddenly died, no one would particularly weep for them.

All connected by the web of crystal... except that Omilaena found herself not following it. For some reason, she headed back to their house, following a different sort of connection. Normally she didn't like such impulses, but she decided to see where this one led.

.

..

.

Back at the Acidarium, where they had personal rooms, Omilaena discovered a disgruntled Zin Nim. She was cultivating, which might make her seem calm to most, but Omilaena could feel her aura of irritation. This could be fun or annoying, but either way it would be interesting.

"I'm home, dearest wi-"

"Take care of this," Zin Nim interrupted. She opened her eyes and frowned toward the exit. "There is another woman claiming to have one of Kai's children in the waiting room. This one refuses to go away."

"Oh my!" Omilaena put a hand to her forehead. "Men! They just can't-"

Zin Nim's frown turned on her. "If you wish to play such silly games, I will not hold you blameless. You are as responsible as Kai for pushing him into brief relationships."

"So you're saying that you hate Yurwa?"

"Yurwa is fine. She would be more fine if there was no history there."

Laughing, Omilaena gave up on teasing the other woman and skipped forward to kiss her cheek. After a little more simmering, Zin Nim gave in and turned to kiss her properly. She really did dislike all of his history, but she was a good sport about it.

"Just make it go away," Zin Nim said. "I am meeting with the acid cultivators soon and I want my head to be clear."

"Consider it taken care of."

Just another connection, likely another woman trying to score some crystals by targeting Kai. Omilaena went out and did her usual blood test routine, and to her surprise the woman actually agreed. Which meant that Omilaena ended up drawing vials of useless blood. She had expected someone to try to call her bluff eventually, she just didn't expect it to be this poor befuddled woman.

Admittedly, Omilaena could imagine Kai banging this one, but her son was so scrawny it was hard to imagine him having Kai's blood. Most likely she was mistaken, which they'd known would happen eventually.

Technically Omilaena could have made up some results and thrown the woman out. Once she would have done so... hell, once she would have just poisoned both to get them out of the way. But there was no profit in that, and it really would frustrate Kai. Since this was all because of him - mostly because of him - she supposed that he deserved to have some say.

And on that note, Omilaena realized why she had gone home.

Once the woman was sent away, Omilaena went to find Kai next. Usually he was off in another city, saving them from their own stupidity, but that week he was back in Yulthens training a group of ex-slaves. So it wasn't hard to wait for a good opportunity and pull him away for a private conversation.

"So I'm thinking of poisoning someone," she began.

"Please restrain yourself," Kai said, and she swatted him.

"A specific person, in this case. It turns out, we know the leaders of a crystallier faction that wants to take over the country again..."

She explained the details and, as expected, Kai was troubled by them. Even after she finished, he remained silent for a time, arms folded, their flexes working out his thoughts. Kai wasn't stupid, but he did tend to process in very blunt ways.

"I don't like this," he said first, which was fair. "The most just thing to do would be to prosecute them publicly. But if we announce that there really is a group of crystalliers trying to regain control, that will just increase hatred between factions. Families who allegedly have a little noble blood have had their throats slit in their sleep. I don't want to be part of that..."

"Hence why the merchants should just disappear." Omilaena blew on her fingers with a little puff of poison. "Surely you have to admit that it's a clean, simple solution."

"No, I don't. These people are apparently respectable citizens, so we'd be making them disappear in the night. Even if you're willing to do something that unethical-"

"I am!"

"-we don't want to be seen doing it. There's enough climate of fear as it is." Kai shook his head slowly. "No, I don't think poisoning them is the right idea."

"Aww, please?" Omilaena clasped her hands with arms together, hitting Kai with mega-cleavage. He immediately flicked her forehead.

"I didn't say we just let them go. Let's talk and we'll figure out something."

Omilaena stopped the act and grinned as they put their heads together. She hadn't expected the connections to lead here, but maybe she should have. Many paths had been abandoned behind her, some of them filled with bodies, but it was worth it.