Crimsoncrest: Chapters 24-25

Chapter 24

Sometimes Nauda struggled to believe that so much had happened while she was oblivious. Part of it might be that Siata had been untouched, the city around her as peaceful as always. Another part might have been that she had always fought alongside the others so it seemed unnatural that she had sat out.

She hefted another dark stone, told herself it didn't matter, and began trudging toward the barrier. When she had committed to helping her friends in this conflict, she had actually meant it, not just when it was gratifying for her. Right now the best thing she could do for Fiyu was to finish this job and get her the last materials she needed to ascend.

The job had taken longer than she expected, less due to the number of rocks than their soul-draining properties. It was unnoticeable at first, then lethargy slipped in, then eventually just touching the stone was painful. They seemed to cause the same effect to the Siatans even more strongly, hence why they needed tough foreigners to do the job.

"Ugh, this is hopeless."

Or not so tough foreigners - Tythes fell over dramatically against one of the stones.

"I cannot lift another one of these, I truly cannot," he whined. "If I carry one more of these accursed stones, I will immediately drown myself. And do you think the Siatans want their pretty pools marred by my corpse? Of course not, so the only solution is for you to do all the work."

"Keep moving," Nauda told him. "House Crimson has put themselves directly in the middle of all this, no thanks to you."

"You see? If you'd listened to me and followed my plans, we could have undermined them. There might still be a chance, if you let me go investigate what they're trying now. Which is another reason why I absolutely cannot keep working."

"Uh-huh."

"There is also... a third reason why I shouldn't work. A very important one. I won't insult your intelligence by explaining it in detail."

Nauda hefted the rock through the barrier, then turned back to him. "You're not even trying anymore."

"See how badly it's affecting me?" Tythes groaned and flopped further into the field. He could flop surprisingly far with his arms shackled like that.

She ignored him and moved to one of the largest boulders. The effect intensified with size, testing both her strength and her spirit, so she was moving the largest stone a little further every day, working up to finally pushing it out. Because Tythes was useless with helping, that was the only viable option she saw.

Of course while she worked, Nauda considered whether or not the draining rocks could be used in her soulhome. They were certainly sublime materials, just materials that seemed anti-human. That was rare, as most poisoning or destructive materials could be harnessed to be used against opponents. If the native Siatans didn't have any ideas, she doubted that she'd come up with a brand new method all on her own.

While carrying one of the smaller rocks, Nauda suddenly dropped down to one knee. All at once it seemed too much. She was still stuck at Authority with a broken soulhome while the others were rushing ahead, advancing to Stronghold and fighting Dominions. Even trying was utterly futile, utterly-

"Hey." Tythes nudged her hand away from the rock with his foot. "You're letting it get to you."

Shaking herself free, Nauda edged back from the rock. Apparently she'd been pushing herself too far, letting the anti-life effect of the stones get inside her head. She should have thanked Tythes, but her mood was too dark to push herself to do that.

"It's hard to imagine sometimes." She found herself speaking, knowing she should keep her mouth shut but utterly exhausted. "Plutalgion is past Dominion and he can rule an empire, threaten a whole continent. And apparently there are whole organizations out there filled with people like that. The only reason they don't crush us is that we're not worth their time..."

"You're getting morose again, but you're not wrong this time." Tythes sat down beside her, eyes growing completely serious. "When I was younger, I thought my father was the greatest evil in the world. Really believed that if I became a good enough warrior, I could kill him and that would solve the problem."

"Is that what broke you?" Nauda asked. "Learning about the scope of the Nine Worlds?"

"Not exactly. The more important thing is that that my father is just a tool of greater forces. If I got to Stronghold, his backers could raise him to Dominion. If I managed to kill him, they'd just find another tool. I realized that the path I was on would never lead to any meaningful change..."

Whenever the two of them spoke Nauda first assumed he was lying, but Tythes didn't sound like he was trying to fake sincerity now. His voice was just flat, his eyes staring at nothing in particular. She realized that he was actually seated on top of one of the dark stones.

"So what's the solution?" Nauda forced herself to stand up wearily. "We can't get strong enough to fight them immediately. Just give up and indulge in life?"

"No, you have to use them against each other. I managed it once, back on the Dustwind Plateaus, but you were thoroughly unimpressed." Tythes stood up and brushed off his robes, smiling again. "Well, now we have the biggest forces in reality looking over our shoulders. It's going to be a real mess."

"Unless we let you go?"

"Oh, it's going to be a mess regardless."

The conversation was at once depressing and strangely motivating. Nauda walked away from Tythes and back to one of the smaller stones, hefting it in one hand before carrying it into her soulhome. Instantly it seemed wrong, worse than any material that simply didn't fit her soulhome, but she held it there longer, gripping it tightly.

~ ~ ~

Becoming a Stronghold had been one thing. Being acknowledged as one turned out to be something else entirely, something Theo found much less satisfying.

Of course the most dramatic news from the battle had been that Guchiro was a Dominion, which spread across both the Asplundat Movement and the Ruling Cities. But people couldn't talk solely about that, and many noted that Theo had not only fought as a Stronghold, he had done well against Tymetron. The stock of House Blacksilver was rising across the continent, no doubt stressing Antha and all the other administrators as they tried to keep up.

For Theo it became a strange irony: everyone wanted to give him what he wanted to gain his favor, but all he really wanted was to be left alone to soulcraft. Lots of factions could make promises, but the plain truth was that not many could really deliver the sort of sublime materials he needed. Homez had already given him access to the Movement's best quarry and most of the other promises were junk he didn't need.

He needed their flattery least of all, especially because it raised his profile. Even though he'd known it would happen, he still winced to think that he was becoming better known across the continent. If Vistgil was paying attention - and it seemed likely that he'd triggered the entire conflict via Raythe - then he knew about Theo.

Had he noticed and simply not cared? Was Vistgil working too many different games to pay close attention? Or could it actually be, unlikely as it seemed, that his pseudonyms and changes had avoided attention? He was afraid that the only thing keeping him alive was whatever laws bound Vistgil.

Or perhaps it was the eyes of the Eternal Spectrum, the Orphic Cabal, and all the other aeon-class organizations. In a way their attention might be protective, but it could also be the cause of future trouble. Theo couldn't rule out that it hadn't been one of them sending Raythe, and at minimum the Salebrante was working through House Crimson.

At least it seemed that Tymetron was unlikely to attack again. A week had passed since the battle and there had been no sign of an army, only all the Tymetronese ambassadors leaving the continent. The appeasement faction of the Asplundat Movement had sent them with apologies, letters, and even some gifts, all of which had apparently been ignored. Theo and Guchiro had discussed the military balance and agreed that Tymetron probably couldn't afford a war at the moment.

Where did all of that leave House Crimson and the other closer machinations? Theo believed Fiyu when she said that Roker had been acting suspiciously, but he didn't see what the man could have done to the Asplundatcrest, aside from destroying it.

Theo was making great progress on his bricks - he finally had a complete chamber's worth - but found himself distracted by Krikree sitting nearby and peering at him. Sometimes she soulcrafted, but sometimes she just watched. When he opened his eyes in the physical world, she began soulcrafting again.

[Is everything alright?] he sent.

[Krikree soulcraft,] was the only response.

Well, he wasn't going to push. He guessed that Krikree might be upset about not being able to fight better in the battle, though she'd done extraordinarily well for an Authority. Or was she upset that he hadn't finished his work on the armorstone? For whatever reason she didn't want to talk to him.

Before he could get back to work, Fiyu landed on Outpost #127's balcony. "My relative and I have assembled secondary materials," she announced. "It is time for me to make further progress on my Immortality Conduit."

"That sounds like a good plan," Theo said. "If you manage to set that up, you'll be in an excellent position at Stronghold. But you're further along with your Conduit than I am, so I'm not sure why you're asking me."

"I require... additional insight." Fiyu dropped into the chair beside him and pursed her lips for a time, though thankfully it seemed she did want to talk. "Guchiro says that my soulhome has shifted from his in a few key ways. If I followed his blueprint, I would gain a functional Immortality Conduit, but not an exceptional one."

"So you need to make a tweak so that it matches the rest of your soulhome."

"That is correct, but I am still unsure. Everything I have considered... does not feel right. I hate to believe that I am blocked by a subjective barrier, but that seems to be the case."

This wasn't really Theo's strength, but he thought he could help her through it. "I know your blueprint pretty well, but you didn't have the full plans for your Conduit until recently. How does it work?"

"Three spiraling channels run through my staircases," Fiyu said, straightening and relaxing as she discussed her soulhome. "Guchiro says that a Conduit is like a sort of 'eternal cantae' that never leaves the soulhome, but gradually enriches all the other materials."

"And your channels are effective because they touch so much of your soulhome." Theo thought back to what she'd said previously. "In a poor-quality Conduit, sublime materials are burned and only briefly enrich the connected chambers. I assume you need some sort of cycle."

"That part is already complete. There must be a room or structure, often called an eternal chamber, at either the top or the bottom of the staircase that generates this immortal cantae and continues the cycle."

"Guchiro's is on his fourth floor and yours will be in the basement, I remember. You need help opening your basement?"

"No, that is not it." Fiyu deflated again. "Even if the Conduit is not complete, I should be able to send my own cantae through it. With testing materials, you understand, to confirm that the channels are whole. And yet I am... struggling. The secondary flow clashes with all my primary cantae and I weaken myself. My relative says this is not merely a matter of mental discipline, I must figure out another path."

"I have to admit that part is beyond me." Theo sat back to consider it for a second before he realized the obvious: he was the wrong person to ask about this. He cast a quick gravitational field, dropping Senka into the air and flipped her upright. "Senka, do you have any ideas about this?"

"I can guess." Senka didn't try to struggle with the shifting gravity, just shrugged in midair. "You can't think of an Immortality Conduit as another cantae flow you control with your mind - it has to be working constantly, even when you're asleep or injured. There are some mental tricks you can try to get over a barrier like this."

"And could you teach those to Fiyu?"

"That depends, is she going to be weird about it?"

They both glanced at Fiyu, who sat silently for a moment, possibly considering whether or not she would be weird about it.

"I suppose it is appropriate to listen to others," Fiyu said eventually. "I am willing to learn."

"Great. You're getting your eternal material from Slest, right? We should go visit Nauda - she might be able to help the mental part more than I can."

This seemed to cheer Fiyu somewhat, and Theo thought that was just as well. He realized, despite how irritated he had been thinking about people earlier, he would miss having them around - when he thought about hating people, he didn't mean them. But he did have a lot of work to do, and if this was what Fiyu needed, better she get it as soon as possible.

"Krikree too." The Slescan straightened with surprising seriousness, more motivated than he'd seen her recently. Was it possible that she was contemplating an Immortality Conduit of her own?

Whatever they had in mind, Fiyu grasped her weirkey and took them all away. Theo closed his eyes and listened to the silence for a time, then dove back into his soulhome.

~ ~ ~

Fiyu had already visited Friend Nauda in Siata on several occasions, but she had not truly explored the Great Azure. The Siatans were not hostile, they merely radiated a cool suspicion of foreigners that she thought was quite reasonable, so she remained in narrow paths that were permitted. That did not prevent her from enjoying the city of floating flowers as she flew to the edge.

There she found that the number of stones had been massively reduced, and many of the damaged areas were being repaired by hovering Siatans. Friend Nauda was currently carrying another massive stone, straining against both the weight and the spiritual force. She looked quite beautiful, all of her muscles working in unison while covered in a sheen of sweat, dedicated to a central purpose. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Fiyu thought that she seemed stronger than before, as if the work had refined her.

As soon as Friend Nauda became aware, which was sooner than before, she smiled at them. She still continued to remove her current boulder, so Fiyu sat down to wait for her. Prisoner Tythes was also present, lying on his back and groaning. Ally Krikree landed nearby and poked him experimentally, generating more groans.

"Glad to see you back," Friend Nauda said as she approached. "I hope nothing is wrong this time?"

"Guchiro and Theo have hopefully created space for us to soulcraft," Fiyu said. "I hoped to master more of my Immortality Conduit, but for that I need... advice."

Associate Senka floated up from behind her, finally rousing herself. She was roughly the size of most Siatans, yet utterly different to Fiyu's senses. Now she could finally explain that observation, if Associate Senka was a cursed individual instead of a natural being.

"I thought you both might want to hear more about Immortality Conduits," she said, glancing between them. "Not that-"

"Krikree too! Bad Senka-food!"

"Shut up, fumpet!" Associate Senka stuck her tongue out at Ally Krikree, who had skittered closer. "Look, I know that you all have basic knowledge, but I might be able to add something. I already told Theo about this, but the real reason I brought you here is because some of it just requires experiencing the steps and figuring them out for yourself."

"I'm actually not sure of the details." Friend Nauda wiped her hands and then, joyously, came to sit near Fiyu. "Do tell."

"Look, I'm not going to do a whole lecture. But the basic principle is that your Immortality Conduit is a separated flow of cantae, running through your soulhome yet isolated from it. All you really need is a channel and some sort of sublime material that generates the highly enriched cantae you need."

"Is it really that simple? I thought the location in your soulhome mattered."

"That's so obvious it didn't need to be said." Associate Senka dismissed the question with a wave. "But I suppose I can repeat the basic blook for you. While a Conduit is functioning anywhere in your soul, you will be sustained permanently. But yes, it needs to connect to some sort of Corporeal Chamber or the benefit won't reach your body. It's possible to become immortal and just... keep getting wrinklier and sicker."

Fiyu nodded her agreement, as she was quite familiar with this part. "That is why my Conduit runs directly through my Corporeal Floor," she explained for Friend Nauda, "which has already fused body and spirit. In theory, when it is fully active it will sustain me forever."

"But it runs through your entire first and third floor too, right?" Friend Nauda asked. "Does that mean that it also enriches your techniques and enhancement chambers?"

"Yes, that is so. My relative says that it is somewhat similar to an Ethereal Floor that cannot be opened, but he believes that is a less beneficial synergy. The hope is that all my fundamental techniques will become perpetual parts of me."

Associate Senka rolled her eyes at them. "You two love birds can examine one another's souls later. The main thing is that the larger your Conduit, the more energy it will carry and thus the more risk of exploding. Three floors is generally considered about the theoretical maximum, which means your Conduit will be under a blook-load of pressure. Are you just trying to wrestle all of that?"

"Certainly not." Fiyu reached into her soulhome to reveal the filtermirrors that she had been treasuring since Deuxan. "I intend to place these filtermirrors at both ends of my Conduit, where they will redirect all the force of the cantae back in the other direction, without my involvement."

"But you have three channels... there's no way to make that into a single circuit, so..."

"The entire Conduit will cycle, flowing up and down."

"Sure, that works." Associate Senka leaned back in the air and her eyes unfocused. "Back in the day, there used to be arguments about whether cycles or a single perpetual flow were better, but they're both perfectly good in the right context. One side will be a pure reflector, while the other contains the eternal materials."

"I am aware of this," Fiyu said with a slight frown. "But when I attempt to guide cantae through the channels as a test, it does not work."

"Likely because you're doing it too slowly, like normal cantae. An Immortality Conduit needs to be intense. If you want to test it, you need to set up half of your eternal chamber and really push the cantae through it. It's not like pouring water, it's like starting a landslide."

"I... see. But I fear that I do not have appropriate eternal materials. Indeed, all of our work here was in hopes of obtaining one, and we have not yet-"

Friend Nauda touched her arm gently and smiled. "Actually, I think I could ask the Siatans. The job isn't done, but I think I have a decent reputation with the locals and they seem like reasonable people. Maybe they can give you the material provisionally so you can prepare."

Fiyu's eyes widened and she looked between the others, hoping to get confirmation that this was possible. But as Associate Senka only shrugged and Ally Krikree cleaned her antennae, Fiyu realized that there were no elder relatives to guide them here. They would have to figure it out for themselves.

So Friend Nauda took them back into the city, leaving Ally Krikree to watch Prisoner Tythes. She seemed surprisingly familiar with the landscape, easily navigating whether along the ground or through the air, taking them toward what appeared to be a pillar of solid glass. It was remarkable that Friend Nauda had already become familiar with this place, but it warmed Fiyu's heart to know that her companions were scouting other paths for them.

At the top they discovered houses of blue glass, not particularly intricate but remarkable in their perfectly smooth surfaces. Their contact appeared to be a Siatan named Mitaeo, who listened to Friend Nauda and then, marvelously, actually agreed.

"Your friend has been extremely selfless in her work," Stranger Mitaeo said to Fiyu as they floated higher. "If she has been doing it for your sake, we trust that she will finish her task. Only one of you may enter, of course, for security purposes."

Closer to the top of the glass column there was an entrance with significant defenses, as well as Siatans hidden within the glass. They appeared to be meditating or asleep, yet they had potent Authority-tier cantae. For all of Siata's apparent placid nature, real power lurked underneath the surface.

After nodding farewell and thanks to Friend Nauda, Fiyu entered the glass column. She was alarmed as she realized that the glass ahead actually blocked her senses, completely and utterly, and forced herself to remain calm. That was a reasonable precaution, if this was a vault of some sort. They rose through the glass tunnel, passing door after door, until at last Stranger Mitaeo turned and opened one of them with a strange word that twisted in Fiyu's ears.

Eternal power flooded from the other side as the vault opened. Fiyu let out a soft gasp as she saw row upon row of sublime materials, all of them radiating power that seemed to last forever.

"You may choose one," Stranger Mitaeo told her. "Choose wisely."

As Fiyu entered, she realized that for once, the trouble would not be finding a material that was suited to her, it would be discerning between so many possibilities...

-

Chapter 25

Nauda only did about an hour of work before Fiyu returned, and even from a great distance Nauda could tell how happy she was. It wasn't obvious on her face, but Nauda had come to realize that Fiyu normally flew with her body relaxed and loose. When she was more excited she bent slightly, as if prepared to spring in any direction.

Not wanting to ruin the mood, Nauda dropped her current rock, dusted off her hands, and turned to face her. "Find what you wanted?"

"Yes, it is quite wonderful!" Fiyu reached into her soulhome and brought out a sphere that was so dark blue it was nearly black.

Of course Nauda would have been appreciative no matter what sublime material Fiyu had chosen, but she found herself staring, almost enraptured. The sphere looked similar to the glass they used in some parts of the city, just far denser. When she looked into it, she almost felt as though she was falling into another realm, drifting through endless shadows...

"Be careful, it is easy to become distracted," Fiyu told her, pulling the sphere back slightly. "This is an eternaldark. It will be an excellent eternal material for my Immortality Conduit. If everything is in place, this will fully enrich the cantae just as I'd hoped."

[Queens,] Krikree emitted from nearby. She appeared to be equally impressed by the sphere, though she also skittered nervously. Nauda couldn't always switch between speech and pheromones easily, so she just kept an eye on Krikree while she looked back to the others.

"So you need to practice with this?" Nauda asked, first to Fiyu then glancing at Senka, who had taken up a perch on a boulder.

"She needs a basement to soulcraft the last part," Senka said, "but basically. If she has this material in place when she ascends, she could easily manage a Conduit at Dominion. Maybe Stronghold if you push it. But the main point of having the material is to train to get the Conduit flow going."

"I could do that anywhere," Fiyu said, "but I will remain here. Both as a gesture of good will to the Siatans, so they do not fear I will steal their material, and because I wish to."

Nauda smiled back at her warmly. She had wanted to show Fiyu a few things from the city, but she was so eager to work with her new eternaldark, Nauda couldn't bring herself to disrupt the other woman. Instead she decided to take a recovery break and listen in while Fiyu got her next lesson.

When Fiyu began soulcrafting, Nauda sat nearby and used her telescope to peer into the other woman's soulhome. Fiyu carried the sphere to her Authority floor, where she sat down in the center. Nauda saw that new channels had been carved, connecting the holes in the three staircases. They all united underneath the powerful flame in her central chamber, which Fiyu ignored as she sat down by the opening.

"In your final Conduit this part will be locked off." Senka explained from outside. "But until you have the other side fully built, you can test your cantae flow from this opening. That should get the Conduit conditioned to the material, which you want to do anyway."

"It does not seem so hard." Fiyu focused and directed the stream of cantae to flow from the eternaldark into the hole, then spiral down through her soulhome.

Even just observing, Nauda could feel the thrum of power. This top section might be new, and the bottom chamber was incomplete, but the channels through the staircases had been deeply integrated with Fiyu's soulhome for years and ascensions. It definitely felt like the cantae was seeping into her soulhome... yet Fiyu frowned and sat back.

"It is like before," she said. "It is not rebounding from the bottom, and it is still disrupting my normal cantae flow. Do I need to finish the basement chamber?"

"No, that should be irrelevant," Senka said, folding her arms with an odd frown. "Is that really the best you can do? You have to want it - you don't get immortality by just doing a little soulcrafting."

"My desire is entirely sincere, Senka."

"Not what I meant. Look, didn't I say this already? You don't just flow the cantae, you have to ignite it. When the Conduit actually becomes active, it will do so all at once, at full power. That's why there are so many cracked or damaged Conduits out there."

"Of course I am not using my full strength now, as this is simply a test."

That only seemed to irritated Senka further. Once Nauda might have been frustrated with her, but now she could see how Senka was struggling with exhaustion and a jumbled mind. Besides, if Nauda had the idea right, the problem might be that the two of them were extremely different women. This step had probably been effortless for Senka.

"I may not know everything," Nauda said, "but I have a suggestion."

Senka glanced toward her briefly, while Fiyu emerged and focused fully on her. "What is it, Nauda? Please tell me."

"I think Senka is saying that this is about passion. You need willpower and focus to ascend, right? This is similar, in that it relies on your internal drive, just over a shorter period. The hard part about an ascension is that it's over a long period of time, where the hard part here is that you need to throw all your willpower into a single moment to ignite it. Is that right?"

"Huh." Senka stared at her a moment, then nodded. "That's what I was trying to say, but I guess you put it better. For me, it was obvious: I wanted immortality more than anything. You need to channel the same sort of passion, Fiyu."

"My desire for an Immortality Conduit is entirely sincere," Fiyu repeated with a slight frown. "I have been working toward this my entire life."

"Sure you have, as an abstract goal. This might be a bit trickier for you because you built most of the conduit following someone else's design, not one you imagined from the beginning. You're so controlled... find some real emotion and let it out."

"Quiet emotions are real emotions," Fiyu objected.

"Maybe so, but they're not doing the job now, are they? Let's practice trying to throw all your willpower into one push, and put some feeling into it."

Nauda faded back, smiling slightly, as she watched Fiyu give it another attempt. She was out of her competence, so she was just glad that she had been able to help a little. There was no doubt in her mind that Fiyu was well on her way to developing her Immortality Conduit, it was just a question of when.

"Come on, yell!" Senka insisted. "Imagine someone is attacking Nauda and you have to stop them!"

"I would not yell, I would simply attack them. Making noise would be counterproducti-"

"Not good enough! You need to take what you're feeling and push it out - yell!"

"...yaaah?"

"Pathetic! Try again!"

That training seemed like it could become strange and awkward, so Nauda withdrew fully to leave Fiyu to her work. She was feeling mostly refreshed and up to moving some of the rocks again. Tythes had collapsed somewhere, so he was making no progress at all. Since Mitaeo had given them the sublime material early, Nauda felt obligated to finish the work promptly.

Yet, before she left, she noticed that Krikree was watching while crouching atop one of the larger flowers. Her posture was strange, tensed for combat instead of scouting. Nauda considered leaving her alone but decided to walk over and sit down beside her.

"Fiyu-queen struggle," Krikree said quietly.

"Yeah, summoning this sort of passion might be hard for her." Nauda sat back and smiled. "I'm sure she'll get it eventually, though."

Krikree didn't respond, instead just staring and compulsively cleaning her antennae.

"Is everything okay, Krikree?" Nauda asked.

"Krikree fine."

"If there's anything wrong, you can ask us, okay?"

"Nauda-queen stop! Krikree fine!"

Well, there was no doubt about her real emotions there. Nauda considered for a moment, trying to decide the best approach, and spoke more quietly. "Am I still Nauda-queen to you? I got to be a symbiote to the leafpuller beetles, so shouldn't I be a symbiote to you too?"

"Nauda-symbiote... not." She didn't sound as emphatic as usual.

"I guess that's your choice, but if you treat me like the queens on Slest, I'll be offended."

Krikree didn't respond at first, sitting and cleaning her antennae. This time Nauda just remained beside her, looking over the city and not putting any pressure on her. Eventually Krikree skittered in a partial turn toward her, paused, then her antennae drooped and she spoke.

"Krikree cannot make bricks."

"You..." Nauda frowned and started to look at Krikree's soulhome, then hesitated. "So you have some sort of soulcrafting blockage. Can I see?"

"Bad," Krikree muttered, but she lowered her shielding walls.

When Nauda stepped inside Krikree's soulhome, she didn't see any problem at first. She had three floors of mud spheres, like an enormous cube of a Slescan nest. Nauda had seen the technique before in some beetles and ants, and Krikree's design was far stronger. A bit of Theo's rigid blueprint style, but strong and highly reinforced.

Atop the first three floors, however, things looked a little worse. The lower half of a mud sphere sat open, either unfinished or broken. There were numerous other materials nearby, surrounding a pile of cracked or half-formed bricks.

Krikree climbed up the side of her soulhome and crouched nearby, not looking at her. "Krikree cannot make bricks like Theo-sister or queens."

"Do you need to?" Nauda asked as she looked over the finished floors. "Your spheres seem pretty strong."

"Strong enough for Ruler, not Authority. Ascension will smash." Krikree skittered in a circle around Nauda and the damaged materials, never facing her. "Krikree scouts queens and princes, sees soulhomes. Not use mud spheres. Not use beetle techniques. Use bricks. But Krikree cannot-"

"You mean that it hasn't worked so far." Nauda brushed her fingers over one of the damaged bricks. "Soulcrafting bricks is a real skill, focusing your soul and sublime materials into a concentrated form. It isn't something that comes naturally to anyone, not even queens."

"Krikree not stupid!" She stamped her foot, smashing one of the bricks. "Krikree has scouted soulcrafting. Tries hard. But fails."

Clearly what she needed wasn't simple encouragement, but Nauda didn't see what she could do to help. As far as she could tell, there was nothing stopping Krikree from making bricks. The mud she was using seemed to be a Slescan material strong enough for an Authority. Maybe it was her technique, but Krikree was right, she was skilled enough that she should have been able to manage it.

"I'll just be honest," Nauda said, "this may be beyond my expertise. Have you asked Theo about this?"

"...Krikree embarrassed."

"Why?" Nauda crouched down beside her, shifting her head to Krikree's level but maintaining some distance.

"Theo-sister is Krikree's only sister left. Very strong, depends on Krikree. But now Krikree failure."

Seeing Krikree's obvious distress, Nauda wanted to comfort her, but she'd never seen Slescans embrace in a way she could imitate. Besides, Krikree didn't want to be condescended to. After sitting in silence for a time, Nauda realized that the solution to this wasn't likely to be emotional, any more than she could have solved the problems of lower Tatian or Nlukoko with emotion alone.

"Didn't you say there was a blockage when you ascended to Authority?" Nauda asked. "Something that worked against you?"

"Ascension only for queens." Krikree spoke in a monotone, but her antennae perked up.

"It seems to me that the queens are afraid of workers ascending to challenge them. But they didn't just put a barrier in the way of ascension. If you say your previous technique was only suited to Ruler, I'm guessing you're exactly right: they taught everyone a method that wouldn't work for Authority. So even if someone did manage to ascend, they'd struggle to keep soulcrafting."

Krikree's eyes widened and she went entirely still. "Queens leave trap for Krikree?"

"I don't know for sure, but it looks like it could be. If you want to soulcraft bricks out of materials like this, you're going to need to relearn some basic skills. It might be-"

"Nauda-queen teach!" Krikree jerked upright, grabbing her shoulders and head. "Teach Krikree! Smash trap! Teach!"

Nauda chuckled and tried to pull back, removing the Slescan's hands so she had enough space. Work could wait a while longer.

~ ~ ~

Against his better judgment, Guchiro went to meet the other Dominions. It seemed to him that the only reason the meeting wasn't being hailed as a grand event was that revealing their locations would be a military liability. Everyone who knew, however, treated it like high drama.

They met in a city apparently called Dris Kolonb, which Ward Fiyu had briefly mentioned as capital of the Ruling Cities. It seemed an unremarkable dust Fithan city - its primary notable quality, as far as he was concerned, was the density of expensive materials. Whether the Ruling Cities or the Asplundat Movement, Fithans tended to compose their cities primarily of inexpensive stone, with ornaments of more expensive components. As a ceremonial city, apparently Dris Kolonb was planned to be grandiose from the beginning, in materials, layout, and carving.

Everything had been coordinated with a tedious level of pageantry. Guchiro was scheduled to arrive alongside the man known as Citizen Dominion, which was a power play that Guchiro recognized but chose to do nothing about.

"You see?" Citizen Dominion said as they walked through a courtyard filled with unnecessary columns that supported nothing. "Here in the Ruling Cities, all wealth is concentrated in the hands of a privileged few."

The man at the head of the Asplundat Movement - allegedly servant to all - was a short and unassuming dust Fithan with a shaved head. He wore a dark stone collar, visible to all, and a stone belt that appeared designed to hide underneath his clothing. That clothing was even simpler than most of the Asplundat soulcrafters, proclaiming too loudly that he was just another of them.

"I have seen," Guchiro said without inflection.

Ever since revealing himself, Guchiro had been courted by the Asplundat Movement, as if he could be converted to their particular ideology. All sides had variations of common Fithan dysfunctions, or so he evaluated them. The empire of Tymetron was the only real concern.

A few minor officials welcomed them, and others opened doors to the central plaza of Dris Kolonb. In the end the meeting would take place among Dominions alone, which Guchiro thought was short-sighted. Decisions were truly made by larger groups on all sides, so unless the meeting was restricted to topics of combat or soulcrafting alone, it was meaningless elitism.

In contrast to Citizen Dominion, the man known as Crintak wore ornate robes, apparently layered from all the colors and sigils of the Ruling Cities. Another false symbol, though of a different sort. One of his eyes had been gouged out in a gruesome accident, but he had placed a glowing sapphire in the empty socket. Both an armament and a depths material, unless Guchiro was much mistaken.

There was allegedly one more Dominion on the continent, a woman who represented the Wavefront region. She had declined to participate in the meeting.

"Welcome, my peers," Unknown Crintak said grandly when they entered. "There are so few opportunities to speak with fellow Dominions these days. It would be a wonder to speak of the highest tiers of soulcrafting."

"Do we have anything in common there?" Citizen Dominion asked. "I soulcraft with the contributions of my people as a debt, whereas you seize the best materials for yourself."

"Enough." Guchiro raised a hand, which was enough to cut off their squabbling. He judged that, despite their protestations, these two were not committed to the argument. "I am here solely as a favor to discuss our coordination against Tymetron."

"And you truly believe we should coordinate?" Unknown Crintak asked, sapphire gleaming. "No matter how we organize ourselves, we face an enemy capable of fielding multiple Dominions."

"It is a matter of concentration. If Tymetron can deploy its full forces against one of us individually, they could potentially eliminate an enemy without an unacceptable drain on their military, whereas if we stand together, they have no easy path to victory."

"Accurate strategic thinking, yes, but how would such a thing actually be arranged? Fielding their Dominions would cost them... but it costs us far more."

"Many of your conflicts are against one another. A ceasefire would surely allow you to focus outward."

"I agree entirely!" Citizen Dominion said. "And our primary defensive point is also a simple matter of tactics: there is only one place on the continent where we know Tymetron wants to strike. They have already attacked our crest once, so we must gather before they do so again."

Unknown Crintak wagged a finger. "That's an assumption. They avoided losing any soulcrafters in that battle, yes? It could be a feint, designed to lure all of us to concentrate our forces while they prepare for a strike on our flanks."

Guchiro judged that to be unlikely, given the mobility granted by weirkeys, but could not fault the leaders for being concerned over the safety of their communities. He folded his arms and remained silent as the two of them hashed out an agreement over the exact circumstances under which they would cooperate with one another.

Even this was, apparently, a major step for the two powers. Fithan conflicts were so strange... Ichili rivals or enemies would be far more cautious under most conditions, but more cooperative when it came to serious matters. If these two sides fought together for once instead of against one another, it seemed possible that they would leap over all interim stages to become allies. Perhaps that was for the best, given the empire they faced.

For his part, Guchiro offered limited commitments to both sides. As a "concession" he agreed to support the Ruling Cities if they were attacked by a major force, as well as the city of Norro Yorthin. Ward Fiyu enjoyed that city, and keeping himself publicly associated with her would assist her path.

As the discussion continued, however, Guchiro grew weary and began expanding his senses further into the city. Only a fraction of this was tactics or strategy... the majority was politics. He realized that these two, for all that they were among the strongest soulcrafters on the continent, were at their core administrators and figureheads, not solely warriors. In his youth he had feared becoming a servant to inter-world organizations, but now he realized that becoming a leader could be just as dangerous.

Such was not the case in Tymetron, where Dominions were only elite soldiers. Guchiro began seeking north, wondering just how many they could field.