Chapter 571: An Unexpected Meeting with Irunians

"I still think that was too fast," Zae Zin Nim said. "The merchant has been arrested and within hours has collapsed his deal?"

"I'd be more worried about the Irunian side." Omilaena sat back as if relaxed, but she was puffing smoke regularly. "That's a quick and aggressive response for anyone, much less them."

"You just remade Irun, shouldn't they be indebted to you?"

"Their leadership, maybe, but we have no idea who these merchants are."

While his wives discussed the upcoming meeting, Kai was reading over a scroll of background information that Krainuun had given him. They both made good points, but he was stuck on something else: why would Irun demand the three of them? Unless they had inside information about the operation - which would suggest blackmail - that was a strange choice.

One possibility was that they thought Kai was making decisions based on feelings and could be deceived in a technical negotiation, so he was trying to brush up on the trade between the two nations. Krysal and Irun were on opposite sides of the Frontier wasteland, so their only trade was low volume, high value goods. It seemed that Krysal shipped rock in return for metals, which were uncommon with all its crystal mines.

"The easiest, though worst, explanation would be that they know that we set up the Krysali factions," Omilaena pointed out. "If that's true, it puts us in an awkward position, but the bigger problem is how they found out."

"Could it be Yuinafal?" Zae Zin Nim turned to Kai with a frown. "I know you said that he seemed friendly, but couldn't he undercut us in both Krysal and Irun this way?"

Kai could only shake his head. "I admit it's possible, but if I'm any judge of character at all, I don't think he'd turn right around and betray us."

"You are good at judging virtue, not vice. We should remain on guard."

As much as he hoped she was wrong, Kai had to admit that his wife had a point. Until they knew just what was going on with the Irunians and this trade deal, it was best to remain cautious. He preferred to think about this as a real deal, because if it was a setup, then he had an even bigger headache on his hands just when he thought he had a strong alliance with the elites.

There was only time to go over the basic terms and their goals again before they were summoned to the meeting. Tense as Kai was, he realized as they went to stand together that he should be grateful that his wives had taken on the cause. Once they might have scorned to get involved with local politics, but now they had his back.

On the other side of the teleportation portal, the elite left them in front of a neutral gray Irunian building. The three glanced at one another, then headed inside to meet their unknown counterparts. Despite his gut feeling, Kai wondered if he would see a smug Yuinafal having sold them out.

Instead, the only people waiting for them were Tusquo and Quinta Agyama.

For several heartbeats, both sides said nothing, as if recalibrating. Kai looked for potential pitfalls, like illusions or traps or others observing. The only thing that stood out was that Quinta's hair had changed color from Irunian black to silver, and her eyes had changed as well. Tusquo looked only mildly concerned and made certain to meet his gaze and smile.

Kai smiled on instinct, but his wives had very different reactions: Zae Zin Nim's face became a mask, while Omilaena threw up her hands.

"I don't suppose you killed the real representatives?" Omilaena asked.

"We are the representatives," Tusquo said. "We apologize for the subterfuge, but we thought it would be best to push the meeting early, to make arrangements before others got involved."

Quinta nodded as she joined in. "The deal with Krysal is an old one, built based on our previous weak position. This seemed a good opportunity to renegotiate."

"Except we don't intend to come to the table aggressively. We can work out something that benefits both nations, can't we? I thought that would be simple... did we cause you some worry?"

"A little," Kai said mildly. Zae Zin Nim huffed while Omilaena rolled her eyes and grinned as she accepted the absurdity of the situation.

"Apologies." Quinta gave them an Irunian bow, then rose to address all three. "The actual negotiations should be trivial, but meanwhile we wanted to invite you to dinner. I had meant to do this earlier, as an apology for my behavior, but you were overbooked before now."

"What problem did you have with us?" Omilaena asked.

"I was troubled by your... unusual marriage. Such a thing struck me as very inappropriate, and I judged you based on assumptions. But when Omilaena was injured..." Quinta's hard expression cracked and she lowered her eyes. "I saw true commitment and depth of feeling, which shamed me. Your relationship may be strange to me, but it is clearly strong. That is why I arranged to take this problem off your hands, and why I would like to invite you to our home."

"We're actually not far away," Tusquo said. "Unless you want to stay here and have a long trade negotiation?"

That turned out to be no question at all, so they headed out and stepped aboard a gray Irunian vessel. They would have been able to fly faster on their own, but it was nice to relax for once, after sprinting between Krysali city states. Plus, his body was finally catching up to the events and accepting that this wouldn't be a tense encounter after all.

"I'm glad this worked out," Tusquo told them. "We have wanted other couples to have dinner with, but that is difficult here due to Irunian politics. If it's alright with you, we'd like to have more couples' dinners in the future?"

"And what precisely do those involve?" Zae Zin Nim asked. She paused as Omilaena whispered in her ear, then scowled. "Liar."

"It only means dinner, I assure you. But for people like us, our life experiences are somewhat separated from others by everything we have experienced."

The conversation on the flight over was a little awkward, but Kai thought that everyone was warming up. He and Tusquo had always gotten along, and Quinta was getting over her need to apologize. Once Zae Zin Nim decided she approved of what was happening, the atmosphere got a little warmer.

Arriving at the Agyamas' home served to break up the awkward small talk and they headed in, through the garden to the dining room that they'd never properly used. The table was covered in Irunian plates and utensils - steel, of course - and Tusquo showed them to their seats while Quinta disappeared into another room.

It seemed like the table was set a bit like a negotiation after all: Kai and his wives on one side, Tusquo and Quinta on the other. As they were sitting down, Kai noted that there was a small place set to one side, but no small seat for their daughter.

"For reasons of secrecy, no one is taking care of Ruotu," Tusquo told them. "She remains shy, so she may eat later. But if she does decide..."

He trailed off as Ruotu slipped around the corner and walked toward them, then surprised everyone by climbing up into Zae Zin Nim's lap. The girl seemed quite happy to be sitting there, while Zae Zin Nim looked paralyzed. She managed to recover by fussing with the girl's hair, which was in disarray.

"When did this happen?" Omilaena asked with great amusement.

"She just decided it," Zae Zin Nim hissed back.

"Zae has pretty hair," Ruotu announced, then frowned at Omilaena. "You're scary."

"I don't think I'm so scary." Omilaena flickered some metal around her fingers and formed a shining bronze hair ornament, which Ruotu grasped in both hands and stared at.

Meanwhile, Quinta returned bearing several platters of food. When she saw the others with Ruotu, she smiled and briefly looked more maternal than Kai had ever seen her. Then she set down the platters and urged them to begin.

The meal turned out to be a traditional Irunian feast, which included slabs of meat to make any Goralian happy. They also had anvil-shaped bread and various vegetables cut in the shapes of swords, which was so on the nose that Kai wasn't sure anyone would believe it. Everything had been put together more artfully than he had expected, and he had to admit that it was good.

"This is excellent," Kai said between chewing, then glanced at Quinta. "You did all this?"

"Except for the bread, yes." She inclined her head slightly. "Cooking, like gardening, is one of the Irunian feminine arts."

"And you... have embraced those?" Zae Zin Nim was eating much more cautiously, and now stopped to peer at Quinta.

"What else could I do? You already know about my lineage, and even if it failed to produce new power for Irun, I was still pushed to be an exemplar of Irunian femininity..."

It turned out that Quinta and Zae Zin Nim had more in common than anyone would have expected, and even though Kai wasn't involved in that discussion, he was glad to see them apparently getting along. Ruotu didn't say anything but seemed very interested whenever hair was involved. Just when Kai was beginning to think the whole dinner would be conversation about "feminine arts", Omilaena spoke up.

"Not to commit a faux pas," she said, "but I am dying to know what you did with your Physique."

"Ah. That is also because of you." Quinta bowed politely and at the same time lowered her shroud, so Kai got a better look at her soul.

<

Name: Quinta Agyama of Irun

Total Power: 640

Silversteel Physique: E-0 (350)

Souliron Essence: 9 (93)

Soul Level: 6 (36)

Path of Steel: Truesteel 3 (161)

>

She now had something called a "Silversteel Physique", which was a new one to him. At E-0 it granted 350 Power, which suggested it was in the same category as other advanced Physiques like the Blackblood, though it was a bit weaker. Combined with something called Souliron Essence and the Path of Steel, Quinta had a surprising 640 Power.

"I was far weaker a few weeks ago," she explained, "just another Irunian dead end. But when I underwent the transformation process in the pools, I received a considerable benefit."

"Not surprised," Omilaena said. "I didn't want to promise, but since I based some of my work on your genetics, I guessed it was possible."

"Well, I must thank you. This is the first time in my life that I have been more powerful than my husband, and I feel it is entirely unearned."

"Not at all." Tusquo put his hand over hers and smiled. "You spent years working on yourself that are only bearing fruit now."

"Perhaps, but you will soon advance as well."

They weren't making eyes at one another, but Kai got the feeling this was an Irunian public display of affection. Omilaena subtly rolled her eyes in his direction, while Zae Zin Nim was watching the couple with more concern.

"Does this mean that the Irunian authorities will expect you to have more children?" she asked.

Quinta nodded. "Yes, but this accords with our own plans. We hope to expand our family after this incursion."

While they spoke, Omilaena caught Kai's eyes and gave the subtlest of smirks. He mouthed "Don't" and she flashed just a sliver of teeth. Part of him expected her to completely ruin the conversation, but he realized that ultimately he trusted her to read the room.

"It will be many years in the future," Omilaena said, "but I would like to examine your family. There are disagreements about how much a person's training can affect their children, including those who argue that no level of power truly changes the blood."

"There are similar arguments in Irun," Quinta agreed. "As a matter of fact, my own ancestors had significant debates on that subject..."

Remarkably, even that topic didn't turn awkward. They actually had a great dinner, a mix of casual conversation, politics, and everything they had in common as warriors. Zae Zin Nim stopped treating Ruotu like an imprisonment device and even had the girl giggling by the end. Kai enjoyed finally getting to talk to Tusquo again, and realized how much he'd missed this.

At some point they sat down to hash out a new trade agreement, but Kai barely remembered that part.