Deadgold: Chapters 22-23

Okay, at some point here we will have an audiobook release and I'll be exhausted, which will mean one skipped week. I can't promise the exact date, however, I can only say I'm doing my best to keep all the balls in the air.

Publishing is a funny business. I've spoken about my efforts to gain access to trad channels, and meanwhile we have a trad author testing out the self-published pathway. Django Wexler is a professional who has written some great flintlock fantasy, but now he has a Mad Max styled Royal Road story as well as a Patreon account. I'm giving him a shoutout just because I've enjoyed his work, so please check it out. ^-^

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Chapter 22

Events in the undersea city had been troubling and entirely too fast, but now, several days later, Fiyu was at peace with them. In addition to things going better for her allies, she had acquired two very useful materials: the explosive stone and the bioluminescent seaweed. Neither was perfect on its own, but now that she had had some ability to manipulate sublime materials, and allies who could do so further, they would become steps in her path upward.

She had not been able to render the explosive stone usable yet, so all she had done was soulcraft a chest filled with sublime water, which rendered it completely inert. The seaweed, on the other hand, had proved immediately useful. If she crushed it into a fine paste, she could mix it with sublime oil and produce a sealant that glowed with incredible force.

The seaweed would only go so far, however, so she had not yet had the courage to actually use the end result. Instead she had used her stored bricks to craft two more rooms around her Stronghold heart chamber, filling one with her flickerflower and preparing secondary materials for the explosive stone. This way, if there was another emergency battle, she would at least be better reinforced, even if her blueprint was far from complete.

Friend Nauda entered the courtyard first, and her mere presence wasn't disturbing at all. In fact, Fiyu had become quite comforted by it, including her companion examining her soulhome and coming close. Even sitting beside her, almost touching, was still warming instead of alarming.

"Making good use of your gift, huh?" Friend Nauda reached into her soulhome and pulled out the trident, which she examined with a strange expression. "This is the second trident I've gotten on Fithe. Makes me wonder if fate is trying to tell me something."

"But the materials are still well-suited to a staff, yes?" Fiyu asked. "It seems it would only take a little modification to make use of it."

"Oh, I was mostly joking. I spoke to Navim and we plan to try to merge several armaments together, but it would be premature to do that now, so I'm sticking with my gauntlet until I have enough resources."

"And how is Homez?"

"Same as he has been for the past few days. Less unhappy when he's awake, but they haven't gotten the enslaving seal out of his soulhome yet."

It was very troubling to be unable to help Ally Homez, yet all Fiyu could do was support Ally Navim. She had chosen this path of combat, which meant that she would be less useful when other skills were needed. Even the battle in which they needed to restrain Ally Homez had proven that her specialization created limits.

Of course, she had come through the crisis thanks to her allies, which was exactly how a community was supposed to work. And there was no reason she would ever need to be apart from Friend Nauda... unless the relationship was truly impossible. Unless she wanted more and Fiyu fell apart. Before she could spiral, they were interrupted by Friend Theo.

"The aftermath is over," he said as he landed beside them, "so we need to get on top of things. Most importantly, I got word that it's under a month until they finish building the arena complex and begin the main tournament. We need to pull in more allies."

"Nanjuma has apparently been doing well," Friend Nauda reported. "No sign of an attack, either."

"But I'm still not keeping up with everything. The biggest problem that remains is Raythe and whatever he's trying to do as judge. At minimum, I think we need to look into him further, but..."

"You might make him suspicious," Fiyu said as she understood. "Do not worry, Theo. We will investigate him, and you can go and bring more allies here. I know that you so wanted to visit Deuxan again."

"Thanks, I appreciate that." Friend Theo smiled only briefly before he stared at them. "But be careful. I still don't have proof, but I'm guessing that Vistgil was using him to incite war in the Asplundat Movement. Raythe is chaotic enough on his own, and there could be more going on."

"We'll be careful," Friend Nauda said in a grim voice. "I hate the idea of someone like him having a Dominion's strength."

"But you seem to be thinking of more than that," Fiyu observed. "What are the other tasks that torment you so?"

Friend Theo paused a moment, running a hand through his hair. "There are a lot of things we need to do, from contacting the Orphic Cabal to trying to recruit aeon-class soulcrafters. House Blacksilver is happy enough with us that we don't need to do anything for them... but I still think we should keep one person here to keep an eye on the tournament, and we should meet periodically."

"That seems workable," Friend Nauda said. Her shrug made their shoulders brush and Fiyu's breath caught, though her companion didn't even seem to notice. "We establish a home base there and soulcraft while the others take care of business or find new materials."

"Glad to hear you're on board. I thought that we could have a rotation so that one of us can childtend the tournament while the others move."

Childtend... what a curious word. It sounded like a wholesome verb, the sort of action that Fiyu would not have expected Friend Theo's culture to have a word for. Yet he said it in a tone that suggested something more negative, as if he didn't consider taking care of a community's children to be a great honor. She wondered just how the word worked in his original language.

"It sounds like we're on the same path," Friend Nauda said, apparently not distracted. "I know you want to visit Emperor Dave, and he's one of our strongest allies, so I say you do it. We'll stay here and figure out what's going on."

"Good." Friend Theo's back muscles relaxed a little as if he was relieved. "Maybe I just needed to get permission. I'll go to Deuxan and come back with as much support as I can."

With that decided, he lifted into the air and was gone the instant that he reached weirkey range. It was a reasonable plan, it only meant that Fiyu and Friend Nauda would need to move to the tournament grounds. Protected by her stealth technique, that would not be onerous at all. Still, with so many thoughts and emotions running through her, Fiyu didn't want to go just yet.

"I can stay if you want to catch up with Guchiro," Friend Nauda said kindly. "I have a ton of bricks to soulcraft anyway."

"Nauda..." Fiyu took a deep breath as she decided to raise the subject, hoping that it would not cause any trouble. "Did you hear Theo say 'childtend' earlier? What do you think he meant by that?"

"Is that how it sounded to you? It was more like 'infantwatch' for me."

Many people completely failed to understand soul translation, not realizing that nuance could be lost between souls. Even in the best of times, it could be difficult to speak a single language instead of automatically communicating across worlds. After so long together, Fiyu and her close companions communicated smoothly. Under normal circumstances they were entirely clear with one another, and when they needed to discuss specific terms, Friend Nauda was able to stretch her mind and voice to make them clearer.

"I see," Fiyu said. "Is that not much the same thing?"

"To me it sounded more like a chore," Nauda said with a shrug, again making their shoulders brush in a tantalizing way. "And that fits with how Theo is, right? He doesn't seem like the type to enjoy taking care of children, does he?"

"Mm, no."

"But that wasn't what you really wanted to ask about, is it?"

"It... was not." Fiyu realized that Friend Nauda knew her too well for her to avoid the subject, which she both wanted and feared. "I was simply thinking... do you want to raise children, Nauda? Is that important for... for you?"

"Is this a relationship conversation?" Friend Nauda looked at her for a moment, then realized that Fiyu was shivering and pushed on. "I've always had... mixed feelings about children. They were a liability, on the lower side of Tatian. Then, on the upper side, the community encourages everyone to have them. Sometimes it sounds wonderful, but... why? How do you feel about them?"

"It is important to support the community's children," Fiyu said firmly. "However... not everyone needs to bear children themselves. Instructors and guardians and others are also necessary. Would... would you be willing to adopt children, Nauda? And childtend them together?"

Her companion gave her a strange smile and shifted her arm as if she intended to wrap it around her, but held back. After an awkward pause, short enough that most might have missed it, Friend Nauda answered in a stiff voice.

"Having a family with you sounds nice, Fiyu. And trust me, no one on Tatian cares how someone enters your family, so long as they are loved. Our worlds may be far apart in some ways, but I don't think this one is a concern at all."

"That is good, because..." Fiyu let out a sigh. "I asked my relative if he knew of any way for two women to soulcraft children, and he said that if it was possible to create life, it was beyond his knowledge. So if we wanted children, we would need to adopt them."

"That's completely fine." Friend Nauda touched her shoulder and Fiyu shivered once more.

The touch felt wonderful, but here like this, with all the meaning that it carried, it was also overwhelming. She could not help but think about the two of them becoming permanent companions, Friend Nauda becoming Lifemate Nauda, and her heart went into overdrive.

"Are you really that afraid?" Friend Nauda asked, pulling her arm back.

"I'm not afraid, Nauda!" Fiyu turned to her, clasping one of her hands in both of hers - that sort of touch helped ground her. "It is just... a major change. There is no need to rush there, right? We will both have very long lives, so what is the harm if we spend a little longer walking together like this?"

"Rush? You may have an Immortality Conduit, but I don't. I'm approaching thirty years, as Tatians count them."

"But you've enhanced yourself so much, you'll retain your youth! I think I would love you at any age, Nauda, but I'm glad to see you so healthy. Soon you'll build your Immortality Conduit as well, and then we will have all the time in the Nine Worlds. So please don't be impatient..."

Too late, Fiyu understood her mistake. She should have realized it earlier, and a distant part of her mind had even noticed when her companion tensed at the word "rush", but Fiyu had been so fixated on speaking the words she had in her mind that she hadn't reflected. Now, with terrible inevitability, Friend Nauda pulled back, her shoulders tightening.

"This is still impatient to you?" Her voice was terribly quiet.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way!"

"I know you didn't, I... we knew we'd have to overcome some difficulties to make this work." Friend Nauda rose to her feet, her body more stressed than it had been during the battle. "Sorry for bringing it up. I need some time alone."

Fiyu sat there miserably, realizing that she had ruined the moment between them. The worst part was that she didn't think she could overcome this, not easily. She tried to imagine herself rushing after Friend Nauda and kissing her, and the idea made her feel as though the world's foundations were crumbling underneath her. If they did this to one another now, how could they possibly be lifemates?

And yet... for Ichili, retreating like this might be for the best, but that was not the case for Tatians. Fiyu realized that saying nothing would be a dire mistake. She couldn't rush after her companion and kiss her, but perhaps...

"I want to spend eternity with you, Nauda!" Fiyu pursued Friend Nauda and reached out toward her hand, hovering a short distance away. "I would like to... to walk together forever, to do everything together, even to childtend children. I just need time. Please be patient with me. Even when I make mistakes."

At first Friend Nauda didn't respond at all, and Fiyu feared that her action was too little and too late. But her companion turned back with a smile that, though sad, made the tension throughout her body relax slightly. She reached out and took Fiyu's hand, as delicately as a piece of silk brushing over her skin.

"I'd wait forever for you, Fiyu," her companion said, "but it hurts. I don't want to hurt you, but..."

"I don't want to hurt you either, Nauda." Fiyu clutched her hand tighter. "We can do this without hurting one another, can't we?"

"I think we can. I hope we can."

They left it like that. Fiyu searched for more optimistic words, but anything she might say would feel false. At least they hadn't left one another with hurtful words and tangled feelings. Based on the density of Friend Nauda's musculature, Fiyu's final effort had made an impact, reducing her stress significantly.

Which made Fiyu happy, except that she felt as though she had taken that stress into herself. For the first time, she wished that she could change herself, to behave differently, but she saw no choice but to continue as she was, blundering into the unknown and hoping she would not lose the woman she loved most along the way.

~

Meanwhile, Theo headed to the Mercury Court, blissfully unaware that his casual use of the word "babysit" had caused a relationship crisis.

-

Chapter 23

Even though he had spoken to Dave multiple times, Theo hadn't actually gone directly to the Mercury Court. During one of his rare free periods, he'd investigated a little further around other continents, making sure that the Mercury Court wasn't hiding some secret society that drank baby blood or something. As far as he could tell, Dave was on the up-and-up, both in terms of the power of his Court and its limitations against other forces.

Having gotten permission, Theo was finally ready to visit directly, but he couldn't just go on his own. Dave himself seemed to be in favor, but apparently his courtiers would have considered it too much of an insult for a single visitor to show up to converse with their emperor. Since Theo didn't want to make an issue of it and potentially draw attention, he needed an entourage.

Fiyu and Nauda were handling things back on Fithe, and he didn't want to pull them away from work, so he needed Deuxans. Fortunately, he had plenty of options thanks to all the trouble he'd gone to with Deuxan politics while he'd been dealing with the skyvenom. His second goal on Deuxan was to pick up participants for the tournament, so he could take out two birds with one stone.

It occurred to him, as he headed out to Occoire Court, that he should probably not assume that soul translation would handle that metaphor well.

He was concerned about getting embroiled in politics again, but time and an ascension made all the difference. Instead of being a foreign Authority, he was a Stronghold equal to any of their Court leaders, arriving on behalf of a continent that had even more military soulcrafters than they did. For people like this, who built up to the fourth tier solely for political ambitions, Theo was on an incomprehensible trajectory.

So now he was doing others an honor by meeting them, and of course Theo did the Deuxan thing and downplayed their disadvantage. He met with Sartozi privately, to boost his reputation, and didn't demand much except expedience. Sartozi didn't waste his time, just put forward two soulcrafters to join the tournament: Lalye and a middle-aged Authority.

Theo thought he might end up talking to Lalye, but she seemed a bit intimidated by his ascension. To avoid collecting a lot of hangers-on who would slow him down, Theo made arrangements for all of them to meet in Accilonia Court, where he also tried to leave a message for Krimmile to make contact with the Orphic Cabal again by a different channel.

One Court down, several more to go. Theo headed on a whirlwind tour of his main allies, ending in the regions of Great Ostic.

Nourise also made sure to formally invite him, for the sake of her reputation, but when Theo entered the dining hall, he discovered only Chlira ai Darrize waiting for him, seated with her feet up on the table.

"Greetings," she said lazily as he entered. "Are we going, or what?"

"No actual food?" Theo asked, as if offended.

"Nah, Nourise recognized that you're too busy to waste time. I want to fight in this tournament, though, could be fun. Are we all ready to go to Accilonia?"

"I have one more stop to make in Western Ostic."

"Wait, out west?" Chlira pulled her feet back and sat up straight. "What's even out there?"

"You can come if you want," Theo said, "but I think you'd get bored."

Chlira eyed him suspiciously. "Are you up to some political machinations again?"

"If you didn't believe me before, I don't know why you'd believe me now, but I just need to pick up a soulcrafter for the competition."

She stared as if this idea was so insane that he must be joking, but in the end shrugged. Since there was no need to go through with the pretense of a meal, Theo simply weirkeyed out, arcing back to Western Ostic. It was as desolate as he remembered, except the community itself had been built up a little. Still nowhere near wealthy, just no longer impoverished.

That didn't bring him close to Victon, however, who was probably out with his wubbos. Theo searched for sources of mass in the western desert and eventually discovered a whole herd of the shaggy beasts. Victon rode atop the head of the group, playing a bone flute that seemed to pull along the rest. He didn't stop when Theo flew down, not until he finished his song.

"I'm glad to see you again," Victon said as he put away his flute. "Can you check my soulhome?"

"That's not why I'm here," Theo said, "but I'm not going to miss the chance."

Victon lowered his improved shielding walls, so Theo got a good look at everything he'd done. In a surprisingly short amount of time, Victon had become an incredibly polished Ruler, with a density of carvings across every surface that would have equaled soulcrafters who had been stuck at the tier for decades. Yet, despite his obvious accomplishment, Victon shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Is it... enough?" he asked. "I think I could reach Authority, but the way the others talk about it... I feel like I can't be ready, or I'm missing some secret..."

"You could ascend easily." Theo didn't intend to boost the young man's confidence, it was just an obvious truth. "I suggest you wait a little longer, however. If you're willing to leave your herds, I have an opportunity for you to fight in a tournament. It's divided by tier, so better to compete at the top of Ruler than the beginning of Authority."

"Really? I thought... uh, I was working on something, I wanted you to check it."

"What is it?"

"I had an idea..." Victon fumbled a bowl, carved from wubbo bone and polished with silver, out of his soulhome. "The power of the ascension infuses all the sublime materials in your soul, right? I know that bones I carved when I was younger rose to Archcrafter with me."

"Yes, your soulhome grows with you."

"I was wondering whether I could gather even more of that power, concentrate it further. Bring a material further than the others."

"Huh." Theo paused as he truly considered the idea. His first reaction was to dismiss it, thinking that the difference in power would be minimal and soon lost by regression to the mean over later ascensions. But Victon was a genius of making tiny differences into advantages, so... "It might work, and I'd be interested to see what you could do with it. But there's a problem: if you concentrate pressure, it risks damaging your materials. A sturdy roof can shed it, but a bowl like this will be destroyed."

"Oh..." Victon hung his head and stared down at the bowl. "I was a little afraid of that, to be honest, but..."

Abruptly Theo snapped his fingers as he figured it out. "Got it. You probably can't get far just reinforcing the bowl, but we can boost it ahead of time to endure more."

"You can do that?"

He was already thinking about how, because he had the tools: the skyvenom in his basement was perfectly suited for this sort of thing. Its power attuned to ascension could be corrupted in so many ways, but if he used it to etch carvings into the bowl... yes, it would probably work.

"Tell you what," Theo said, "I'll try this if you at least think about entering the tournament. You can stay if you want, but I think this is your best chance t-"

"I'll go." Victon stood up on the back of his wubbo with determination in his gaze. "I want to test myself against more than the local courts. But... I can't just abandon my herd, and I doubt they'd be welcome. Do I have enough time to leave them with family?"

"We have time." Theo gave Victon an arbitrary deadline a few days from that point, since he didn't plan on taking the young man along with him to Mercury Court anyway. As much as Theo respected Victon, ragged soulcrafters from the desert wouldn't impress anyone the way a group of Authorities would.

All of that had gone well enough, but when Theo returned to Accilonia to meet the others, he got his first disappointment: Krimmile was apparently gone. He hadn't even left any message, his neighbors merely suggested that the Arbaian hadn't been seen in some time. No choice but to burn one of his negotiated opportunities to contact the Orphic Cabal, then.

Even that didn't put Theo off for long, because it was finally time to talk to Dave. Just one last bit of Deuxan pageantry, then he could speak bluntly to someone else from Earth.

That pageantry wasn't trivial, however: he took Chlira, Lalye, and all the other Authorities across Deuxan to the Mercury Court. They arrived atop a massive palace of white marble and all the Deuxans struggled not to look impressed. There was no question as to where they'd find Dave: there was an absurdly over-sized staircase leading up to the highest palace.

In a city like this, Strongholds were actually more common, so Theo couldn't brush through politics in the same way. Plenty of people observed them on the way up, so Theo had to admit that Dave's courtiers had been right. Alone, Theo would have been a suspicious outsider, but now he blended into a delegation coming to pay respects to a higher court. A Stronghold with a group of Authorities was just powerful enough to be worth the Court's time, while not so powerful as to attract attention.

Atop the staircase, there were two guards who were actually Dominions, and Theo found himself immensely curious about them. Courtiers who had tried to climb the ranks and failed here, unable to ascend further and equally unable to admit defeat? Or driven soulcrafters who served greater powers because they wanted to break through to aeon-class?

Whatever their stories, Theo had no time to talk to them. His escort was led to an outer balcony below the main palace, while Theo alone moved inside. He blinked as he saw the throne room, with three empty seats and Dave on the last.

"At last, you have come." Emperor Dave rose to his feet solemnly and swept one hand with his fingers extended in a strange gesture. "Leave us, for we have matters of other worlds to discuss."

There weren't many other people in the room in the first place, but they quickly retreated. A few scholars or scribes bowed on their way out, while security stepped back through obscured entrances. When those exits closed, they did so with considerable force, sealing the room from outside. Now he was alone with an aeon-class soulcrafter who was moving on him swiftly.

"Yo!" Dave grabbed Theo in a rough hug and thumped him three times on the back. "My man, it's been too long!"

"Did you really order everyone out just so you could do that?" Theo asked. "I thought you didn't care about propriety."

"Nah, it's because we're going to discuss some serious stuff." Dave pulled back and gestured for him to come up the stairs to the thrones. "Take one of these seats, my siblings won't mind. Well, some of them might, but how are they going to complain from Earth?"

Theo carefully took one of the thrones, which was much less comfortable than it looked. That didn't seem to stop Dave, who sprawled across his own throne and leaned back to look at him.

"By the way," Dave said, "I've been keeping an eye on the Teraeves estates like we agreed. Nothing too suspicious, and I've completely shut down people starting fights over them. But there was an agent of the Salebrante who tried to break in once. We didn't get anything from them, so there's no conclusion, but I'm glad it's upsetting them."

"So the Salebrante are definitely working on Deuxan?" Theo asked. "Because you thought they were before, but they turned out to be on Fithe..."

"Ugh, rub it in, why don't you." Dave sat up and gave a lazy shrug. "Look, it's too bad I didn't know about that, otherwise I could have gotten more involved. But we always work with imperfect information, and the Salebrante especially make themselves a threat by pretending to be everywhere. They could well have been lying in wait for me to leave."

"So they can pin you down without even being here."

"Hey, it's not as if their bluff didn't have consequences. When I heard that they'd appeared in force over in your war, I made some very aggressive moves with the Demon Court. Trust me, the Salebrante are going to be hurting from that for a long time... and you haven't seen them on Fithe at all since, right?"

"Not as far as I can tell," Theo had to admit.

"So why are you here?" Dave looked down to poke at a pad-like armament, almost like a reflex, then set it aside. "I mean, I know some of what you want to discuss, but..."

"Because I don't think we can win the war against Plutalgion. Not like this."

"Well, that's blunt."

"So are the numbers." Theo began ticking off on his fingers. "All the powers on Norron combined have four Dominions, and the empire probably has three times that. We may be able to get a few more, and we managed to take one out early, but they still have overwhelming numbers if they invade us directly. And-"

"They're held at bay by a lot of other forces, though."

"And things get even worse with aeon-class soulcrafters. We have no one that can stand up to Plutalgion, and if he has even one aeon-class ally, we're completely outmatched. I don't see any way to win this without reinforcements."

"Personally, I'm betting that you can drag things out a lot longer." Dave sat back in his throne and laced his fingers over his stomach. "Empires have lots of enemies, and there's that Ophaon named Giatrice who helps keep them in check. Remember just how long it took Plutalgion to actually move on you, after he started making threats? It'll take him a long time to actually launch a full invasion if he ever does."

Part of Theo had been thinking along the same lines, even hoping that the war would take so long that he could reach Ophaon and fight personally. But there was something seductively convenient about that which he couldn't trust, too much like his arranged first life. He needed a better plan, the problem was convincing Dave of that.

"The difference is that Tymetron is actually attacking us now," Theo said. "They have a big army, but they can't keep this up forever. Do you really think they'll let it continue this way and bleed out to attrition, instead of gathering to crush a weaker opponent?"

"It could go that way, and that'd be bad, sure." Dave shifted forward, propping his arms on his knees. "But what do you want me to do? I'm not 100% certain I could beat Plutalgion myself, even if I went all out. And I don't exactly have aeon-class soulcrafters in my back pocket, whereas he does. Well, he doesn't seem to have pockets. But wherever he shoves things, he has allies at Ophaon tier."

"If it came down to it, would you fight for us?"

"I... would have to weigh all the variables. I'm responsible for all of Mercury Court, you know. There are millions of people who depend on me, and without an aeon-class soulcrafter, the Court would absolutely fall apart."

"You'd sit back and weigh the options even if Plutalgion attacked and enslaved the entire Norron continent?" Theo demanded.

"It isn't just my own Court paying the price," Dave shot back. "If I started fighting, other aeon-class forces might jump in. If Vistgil is really involved, this could escalate fast, much faster than you're thinking. Trust me... if this all turned into a cascade of the most powerful forces in the Nine Worlds going at it, that wouldn't end well for anyone."

They'd both raised their voices slightly, then they fell silent at the same time. Theo realized that, despite the difference in tiers between them, they were in the same position: trying to build up an alliance in the Nine Worlds that could face an opponent they didn't understand. Except that Dave had embraced his role even further, increasing both power and obligations.

"Alright." Theo took a deep breath and adjusted his expectations. "I accept the position you're in, but I still need to improve our odds. Let's set aeon-class issues aside for a moment. You know the five rivers threading through the Nine Worlds, right? Can you help me locate any of them?"

"Alright, fine. I'm afraid I don't have any angles on them, not any on Deuxan that I'm aware of. For that, you really need to talk to the Orphic Cabal, and as we already established, you're in further with them than I'll ever be."

"Are there any other aeon-class forces that might help us?"

"Best I can do is two leads." Dave reached into his soulhome and, after some rummaging, handed Theo two objects: a compass with five needles that seemed to have been carved from a single enormous pearl, and a flower that faded from white to black over its length. "That compass will allegedly help you find the Demonstalkers. It's valuable, but if I tried to use it, they'd get upset. Now, you might not do any better, but it's not doing me any good sitting here."

"What about the flower?" Theo couldn't identify much about the compass, but the flower seemed distinctly Siatan in its otherworldly texture.

"That's a token from the Caretaker, the strongest soulcrafter on Siata, at least that I know of. Using that will get you in to talk to him... but that's all. Frankly, he seems too passive to ever go out and fight, certainly not against someone like Plutalgion. But if you can convince him to talk to you, he might bestow some good materials, or... I don't know, actually help somehow."

"Thanks for these." Theo tucked both items into his soulhome, then looked up at the other man. "But there was another aeon-class soulcrafter who I hoped could do some bestowing."

Abruptly Dave's face split in a grin. "Look, I may be useless in a lot of ways, but I can make it rain sublime materials. No replacement for hard soulcrafting, and at your tier there are limits, but now that you reached Stronghold, I have some new things for you."

After holding back so much, Dave's generosity with sublime materials was almost startling. He hurled out a dozen different materials related to gravity, as if he'd been saving them for this very moment. There were other materials for Nauda and Fiyu as well, including a silver staff. If they weren't all quite appropriate or powerful enough, they were all clearly well-intentioned, and far better than they'd find lying around on Fithe.

Theo realized, with a poignancy that he hadn't expected, that Dave truly wanted to help. Against threats that spread their tentacles across the Nine Worlds, this was the best he could do. There was no greater force that could sweep in to save them, and in fact it seemed like Dave might be hoping that Theo would eventually save him.

"You have obnoxiously specific demands," Dave finished, then swept out one more sublime material with a flourish. "This is a silvermind, an extraordinarily rare material around here. Frankly, it's more Dominion than Stronghold, and some of my underlings would cut your throat to get this. But it's a mental enhancement that's half-way between corporeal and ethereal, so it's exactly what you need, right?"

"Yeah, this is good." Theo took the silvermind, which proved to be a flask filled with a liquid that looked slightly like mercury, but ran much faster and seemed to glow with an inner light. "Thanks for all this, Dave. Really. I know I'm demanding a lot and there aren't any easy answers."

"Hey, maybe the others will come back at a new tier and beat the snot out of Vistgil without us having to do jack squat." Dave gave a sheepish grin. "A guy can dream, right?"

"I think we'd better not count on it," Theo answered, smiling despite himself. "There's one more thing: can you help me find a Deuxan sapphire? It-"

"Really, just a sapphire? Not a mystical ethereal prism that also represents the pancreas? Not a turnip that embodies the special theory of relativity? Heck, there are sublime gemstones under every rock in some places, I can-"

"Specifically, I need a sapphire suited to a Ruler."

Dave raised an eyebrow unnaturally high, a clearly artificial expression that he fully leaned into. "You have some Ruler-tier friend you're trying to boost? I mean, good for you, but you just talked about how big this conflict is. A new Authority is going to be a little weak to make a difference."

"Can you get one, or is the mighty Emperor David unable to-"

"Hey, hey, none of that." Dave got up and pushed open one of the doors, breaking the seal as he did so. "Hey, can I get a gemstone expert over here? Got a specific request."

Just bellowing demands into the hallway was apparently enough, because the people of the Mercury Court rushed to respond. It didn't even take that long before Theo had a perfect sapphire for Navim... out of respect for Dave's generosity, he didn't pocket any of the others. Materials like this were beginning to be obsolete for him anyway.

At last it was time to part, and with the seal broken, the atmosphere had changed. Dave stopped beside his throne, strangely somber, then abruptly pulled Theo close and grabbed his upper farm.

"Good luck, man." Dave squeezed tighter for a moment, then turned away.

And that was the end of his audience. Theo left slowly, counting all of the new materials in his soulhome and considering his options. A lot of those were useful, but only a handful at best would be essential, and none were game-changers. If anything, the two chances to meet an aeon-class power were more important, and those just kicked the can further down the road.

Outside, Theo was almost disoriented when he met all of the Deuxans again. Gathering them together for the United Norron Tournament seemed like a lifetime ago. But since these alliances were all he had, Theo gathered himself and played the game, being charming in a Deuxan way as he led all of them away from the Mercury Court.

Some of them asked him for help or advice, and it was Theo's turn to play Dave's role: he had too much on his plate to invest in all their issues. When Theo dropped them all off at the tournament grounds, he was glad to be rid of them, in fact he wanted to do nothing but go off alone and soulcraft.

Instead, he kept his appointment with Victon and took the young man to register for the Ruler tournament. Whether or not it mattered, he couldn't say.