Chapter 470: Mercantile Reunions

For a moment they just stared at one another, unable to say anything. Juray was several years older than when he'd last seen her, but she still looked vibrant, and more importantly, she looked happy. He briefly thought about checking her soul to view her advancement, but that seemed meaningless compared to seeing his old lover again.

"You put that thing down!" Juray stormed forward, pushing the overzealous guard aside, then turned to the others in the office with her hands on her hips. "Everyone, this is an old friend. Back to work, we have personal business to discuss!"

It seemed that she was highly ranked enough in the Goralian Merchants Guild, or at least forceful enough, that everyone listened to her. The guard slunk back with an irritable look and some of his comrades reprimanded him, perhaps because they had a better sense for Kai's strength. Meanwhile Juray grinned and gestured for him to follow as they bypassed the lines and entered one of the back rooms.

As soon as they were alone, Juray turned back to him, skirts twirling and a strange smile on her face. "We haven't seen each other in so long, yet I feel like I can't stop hearing about you. First the revolution in Krysal, then you show up in the Elemental Nations and Irun? Your life just doesn't let up, does it?"

"It does sound mad when you put it like that, but it hasn't been all crazy." Kai rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Can't think of a normal way to say this, but I haven't heard nearly as much about you, so-"

"Well, I was so upset when we broke up that I overthrew Goralia. You know, in my spare time."

Kai chuckled, remembering how much fun it had been with her. "I want to know more, but I really need to get a message to the Frontier elites."

"Come on, we can talk on the way. For that, we need to talk to Razz."

"Wait, Razz is here?"

Juray linked her arm in his and pulled him from the office toward a staircase to the higher floors. Along the way, she briefly explained about how there had been increasing economic ties between Goralia and the Southern Reaches, but also increasing battles between warriors on both sides. Stress from the incursion had led to a lot of bad decisions, and eventually merchants had taken the lead in patching things up, including Razz. She had clearly gotten far deeper into politics than he ever had, though she hadn't explained why she was here specifically.

Her arm felt nice in his, but the old flame had quieted to warm embers. They still shared a bond, but they weren't together anymore and there was nothing flirtatious in her touch. She wasn't Zae Zin Nim, after all, she was a Goralian woman who was vocal about what she wanted. Good, much cleaner than with Nirka.

When they reached the top of the stairs, there was a door with another guard - stronger by Deadwaste standards, though not to him. Juray brushed him aside and they moved into an office crowded with piles of books and papers. In the center, almost buried under it all, was Razz Lantrian.

"Kai?" He stared when they arrived, eyes wide. "Is it really...?"

"It's me." Kai hadn't seen the young man since he left Rayakan and the years had made a much bigger difference for him: Razz had been a very young man then, so he'd gotten taller and filled out a bit, but he was immediately recognizable.

Razz rose quickly, vaulted over a stack of papers to reach him, then stopped as he realized he only came up to Kai's chest. "Wait, did you get even taller?"

"Well, so did you," Kai said.

"Yeah, but you just kept growing. Goddamn." Razz was grinning from ear to ear, but managed to swallow his enthusiasm. "I'd love to talk, but you aren't the type to stop over for a social visit. What's wrong? Incursion coming a year early or something? Tsunami flooding everything?"

Kai wasn't sure if that was an implicit insult or not, but he was too glad to meet them again to overthink it. "Not quite that extreme. But there are people from Cloudspire causing trouble, and I really need to get back. I heard you can contact the Frontier elite?"

"They gave us a method, but..." As he spoke, Razz undid a locked drawer in his desk, then opened a second mana-reinforced box with a different key. He stopped with his hand on the lid. "They were adamant that this was only for the most serious problems. Not serious locally, serious for the continent. If I let you use this, and they're not happy, I'll be burning my bridges with the elites."

"Don't worry, they'll take this seriously. And if they somehow don't like it, I'm sure they'll take it out on me."

Thankfully, now that he was among old friends, Kai didn't need to plead his case or engage in any schemes. Razz spun the box around and Kai carefully removed the contents, which proved to be a golden rod with an unnaturally large blue gemstone at the end. No strange chakra mechanism, no obscure Cloudspire jade slip, just a simple magic object using mana. When Kai gripped the rod and channeled a tiny stream of mana into it, he immediately felt power leap out, forming a bond with another location to the north.

After several long seconds, a grim-looking man appeared within the gemstone. He wore an Irunian helm that almost covered his face, but Kai didn't think he was any of the Frontier elites that he'd met before. Shame, that would have made things easier.

"What is it?" the man asked gruffly. "Only the Merchants Guild is supposed to use this."

"Oh, I gave permission." Razz leaned in from the side and the elite's head twitched over as if he could see him.

"You have a dozen Earth Soul cultivators on Deadwaste," Kai said sharply, "and they're trying to commit genocide on dryads. Do you know someone named Nymidria?"

The armored man was silent a moment, then nodded. "Heard about her a few times. She was on pace to become one of us, but went to Cloudspire and never came back. That's usually how it goes."

"Well, not with me." Kai gestured at himself. "Doesn't look like you can sense someone's soul through the link, but ask the others about Kai Clanless. I've been working with you since-"

"Oh fuck, you're the one who overthrew Krysal. What have you done this time?"

"Nothing. This time, I'm here to help clean up a mess that would normally draw you away from the Frontier. But I need backup if we want to take out the cultivators quickly, and I need to get back to Cloudspire. I know you have a history with people leaving and not returning, but trust me, this is important. Is it possible to teleport between continents if you use all your resources?"

This time the armored man was silent for much longer, then he shook his head. "I'll have to talk to the others. Even in the best of times, that sounds impossible, and we're getting too close to the incursion. But if there are actually strong cultivators down there... we'll send someone with expertise. You'll have to talk to them."

Then he vanished without saying farewell. Not exactly polite, but Kai hoped that meant the man was getting to work. For all that the Frontier elites had been frustrated with him at times, he'd done more for them than most of their young recruits, so they couldn't just ignore him. Hopefully he could clean up the cultivator problem and get back to Cloudspire as soon as possible.

Though that would mean leaving his old friends hastily. For the first time, Kai felt a bit of tight haste in his chest dissipate.

"I really want to ask what the hell has happened to you," Razz said, "but it sounds like that might be a long story and you don't seem to have a lot of time."

"I can't waste time," Kai said, "but that doesn't mean I can't find some for old friends. Listen, do you have intelligence networks that could help us find these cultivators?"

"That would be more a dryad thing. We could negotiate with them, but it would take time."

"What's stopping you from chasing them down yourself?" Juray asked. She'd been quiet the entire time, but now leaned against the side of Razz's desk.

"They scattered and they'll run from me if I get close." Kai ran a hand through his hair as he considered all his options. "I think it's too slow to explore every village hoping I stumble across them, and there's no telling what they'll do if I push them too hard. I need to take them out cleanly, somehow, when they're off guard."

"We can't teleport you across the entire continent, but we do have some teleportation methods. Crazy as it seems, the mana is more dense here, so we can teleport short distances if it's urgent."

"Yes!" Kai grabbed her shoulder as the ideas started coming together. "Now, we're going to need to pull off the trick more than once. Do you know any particularly strong people who'd help us?"

"Well, there's Raghi," Juray said with an odd smile. Kai hadn't thought about the Tonjin brothers in a while, but if he was here... no, there was no time for that.

"Good, contact him. Now Razz... do you have a ship?"

"Uh..." The young merchant looked at him strangely. "Of course we move some goods via airship, but they aren't particularly fast. Even the locals aren't impressed, and I hear Cloudspire is supposed to have far faster vehicles. Everything out of Krysal these days is way better than-"

"No, slow and clunky is good." Kai cracked his knuckles and grinned. "We should have time to talk if things go according to plan, but for now let's get to work."