Crimsoncrest: Chapters 14-15

Chapter 14

Nauda honestly wasn't sure what to think about everything Theo had done between the convocation of souls and the current day. At the last moment on Deuxan, she had been convinced that he was willing to ascend to Stronghold regardless of the consequences. After that, however, he'd entered a cycle of refinement, polishing, and crafting in his basement.

Maybe he was delaying, maybe he wasn't, and the scary thing was that maybe neither of them really knew.

When she got back from the Dustwind Plateaus, Nauda carried a giant block of stone on a leash. It seemed to want to get away from everything else, so it ran the risk of flying off into the sky if it wasn't contained. All she really knew was that Theo wanted the stone and he needed her to help get it.

Since she was using their Fithan weirkey, it was easy to appear straight above Outpost #127. It was one of the many locations in the Asplundat Movement that had been centrally planned based on identical designs, so it blurred together with all the other small outposts across the wastelands. This one was allegedly for control of demons near the inhabited regions, but the important thing was that Homez had cleared it out so they could work in secret.

She found Theo seated in the central room, soulcrafting intensely. After waiting a second to see if he'd notice her arrival, she trapped the rock leash under one foot and used her telescope to peer into his soulhome. When her spirit appeared she could feel the air thrumming with potential, almost vibrating as she drifted down into the basement.

"I saw you, this is just a delicate operation." Theo was bent over a pedestal in one of his workrooms, trying to affix some sort of seal over a great bowl. "One second."

"Is that the skyvenom?" Nauda asked as she looked over his shoulder.

"Yes, so I absolutely don't want it getting out during the ascension. I don't know what that would do, but I'm pretty confident it would be bad."

"But you do want it to be integrated with your soulhome so it's strengthened in ascension. Truly, your precautions are boundless."

"No, my humility is deficient. Just let me make sure."

Since the seal was occupying his attention, Nauda looked through the rest of his chambers. He had definitely been busy lately, building a multitude of tools. What struck her was that almost everything was strapped down: it made sense for the tools to be attached, but why did everything else need sublime ropes, or even bolts attaching them to the walls in places?

When she turned back, Nauda saw that Theo was done, so she gestured at an anvil-looking thing. "Even if you expect the cantae rush to get down here, is it going to move an anvil?"

"Normally, no." Theo wiped off his hands with a rag as he approached. "But the Stronghold ascension adds an earthquake to all the other tribulations and I'm not sure how much damage it will do to the basement."

"Couldn't you ask Guchiro?"

"I did, and he just suggested that no level of precaution was too much." Theo blurred away for a moment and she was aware of his physical body taking the stone from her, but she waited for him to return to his soulhome. "This is great," he said as he reverse-hefted the stone. "Thank Blacksilver for me."

"I think they'll be grateful enough if you do this and it doesn't blow up in our faces." Nauda stepped closer and tried to lay a spiritual hand on his shoulder, though their bodies overlapped slightly. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do. I said I'd help, but now I feel like I can't actually contribute much..."

"A soulhome isn't built in a day. If you really want to help us, keep focusing on that garden."

"I have. The crestflower seed is growing, though not according to what Homez says should happen."

"That's good, I'm curious what will happen." Theo was clearly eager to work with his floating rock, but he paused and shifted closer to her. "Actually, more than me, figure out what Fiyu needs. My ascension will strengthen our position, but hers would absolutely end the argument. And once we get there, it won't take long for you to join us."

Nauda wasn't so confident it would be that easy, but she smiled at him and finally stepped away. As she looked down at Theo, wrapped in his soulcrafting haze, she found herself smiling more fondly than she had anticipated. Even obsessive like this, he was thinking about them in a way he never had before.

In a strange way, that enthusiasm was infectious. She was looking forward to this ascension.

~ ~ ~

Theo realized that, contrary to all logic or reason, he wasn't looking forward to this ascension.

Up to this point, everything had been dedicated to fixing the mistakes of his first life, becoming a new person and taking the right steps on his way back to Stronghold. Once he finally reached that point, his advanced knowledge would run out and he would be in new territory.

That should have excited him, and there was a part of him that was exhilarated to learn new soulcrafting, but other fragments of himself differed. And that made it easy to fall into a cycle of concern. If his exceptional soulhome growth was solely based on his unfair advantages, that would feel like it cheapened all his progress. If part of him would miss those advantages, did that mean he hadn't let go of his old weaknesses as much as he'd believed?

He tried to hammer all those doubts away, throwing himself into finishing the anti-mass anvil. It was a bit tricky, but once he had it bolted down, repeating the process was simple. That had been the last major ingredient, making each and every room of his basement into a workshop that also strengthened the chamber above it. He didn't think he could do better than this.

Actually, that reminder soothed his mind a little. His previous soulhome hadn't opened its basement and he'd only just been learning about them before, so he was already in new territory. Truthfully he was breaking new ground every time he really invested in the Nine Worlds instead of skimming over the surface on Vistgil's pre-approved path.

It had been one week since his decision to ascend and Theo thought that any more time would just be delaying. There were other projects, of course, but there were always other projects. The most interesting was getting a ghostworm tooth from Fiyu and trying to fashion it into a pick or chisel. Since tools weren't directly integrated into a soulhome, getting every detail right before the ascension wasn't so important, so he would have to finish those projects as a Stronghold.

Not much time left. He hadn't told Fiyu and Nauda yet, but he'd committed to this deadline, so it had to be soon. Theo walked through his soulhome one more time, checking the seal on the skyvenom and all his other precautions.

He'd double-checked that his soulhome was in good condition, but there wasn't much that could be done to reinforce against an earthquake. Even if he used modern techniques from Earth, he wasn't sure that the benefits would be substantial. From his previous ascension to Stronghold, he remembered it all coming down to the integrity of his soulhome itself, more design than willpower. There had been a little damage last time and he could only hope his redesign was far stronger.

Aside from the ascension itself, Theo was attempting two additional challenges. One was the pieces for his Immortality Conduit, which he had partially assembled in his basement before tying down. He had almost all the pieces now, so in theory they were growing more deeply integrated with his soulhome, preparing for eventual immortality.

The other challenge sat on his soulhome lawn in the form of the giant boulder.

It was difficult to pinpoint how strong the mountainheart was, but it was at least a Dominion-tier material. Incorporating a single piece of it before had been challenging enough and the whole thing would still strain his soulhome if he tried to incorporate it. He hoped that it would be possible during the ascension, but to do that he needed to carry the thing up to the cauldron atop his roof.

Theo touched the side and focused on his gravity, which should have floated them both skyward. But here in this spiritual realm, the mountainheart had formidable inertia, resisting his efforts. By the time Theo manage to get it to slightly rise off the ground, sweat was rolling down the side of his face.

As they inched upward, the hand he was using to touch the boulder began to ache, like he'd been holding it up for hours. Theo gritted his teeth and kept going, adding a second gravitational field to nudge them sideways. That was marginally easier, sending them on a diagonal path toward the roof.

When he touched the bricks his control lapsed and the mountainheart slammed down. Theo winced, imagining it tearing through his soulhome, but the roof held - just a crack on a couple of bricks in his pyramid. He gathered himself again and began pulling the mountainheart up again, this time using his physical strength as well as gravity. By the time he reached the top his entire body ached, but he managed to drop it into the cauldron.

The irony was that this wasn't even an immediate priority: he didn't plan to integrate the mountainheart into his Stronghold floor right away, so it wouldn't benefit him much. But the ascension was the only time he thought it was possible to gain the material and he really wanted it for his Corporeal Floor, so it had to be now.

For a while Theo just flopped against the bricks, recovering. Even though he was confident about this one, no ascension was trivial and he wanted to be at his best before he attempted it. After catching his spiritual breath, he left his soulhome and went to find the others.

"Finally ready?" Nauda shook her head in faux mockery. "I was sure that you'd come up with an excuse to wait even longer."

"You are ready, Theo." Fiyu nodded to him seriously. "I will be watching your example closely."

"No Guchiro?" Theo asked.

"He is investigating for the Asplundat Movement again."

"That's fine, this is for the three of us anyway. Wish me luck."

Theo stepped back into his soulhome and climbed to the roof. There was one last detail: he strapped a sublime tarp over the cauldron, to keep out the acid rain. He didn't think that something as powerful as the mountainheart would be damaged, but there was no sense taking chances.

Then he began walking up the side of the pyramid, casting his will to the heavens. The instant he did so, he felt the force flooding down toward him, but he could handle that. Even as he took another step, it felt more like a heavy rain than an avalanche.

This was what he had hoped would happen: after all, he had been refining his willpower for years and now that he had passed Authority, he should be able to handle ascensions. The rain began to fall, stinging against his skin, but it didn't harm him and the tarp held. In theory everything was ready this time, he just had to keep going.

If Theo had vaulted up the pyramid right then, he might have been able to force the ascension. But that would rush the earthquake, and according to Urmandix Court, drawing it out could actually be more effective. So he continued taking deliberate steps until the heavens cracked and the earth rumbled.

The very foundation of his soulhome shuddered. Theo remembered that, remembered feeling the force sweep through his soul, but he hadn't remembered that it struck him. He flinched, as if his own body was being shaken by a divine hand. This earthquake represented another barrier breaking within his soul, another step that would change him forever.

His will was more than enough, but no amount of willpower could protect an unprepared soulhome. As Theo took another step, he felt the force rumbling through his lower levels. If the walls had been poorly constructed, or he hadn't followed principles of load-bearing design, his soulhome could easily have crumbled, its own power crashing on itself with devastating effect.

Nothing had broken so far. Theo took the next step even slower, drawing out the ascension. The earthquake wasn't an assault, it was his soulhome struggling to grow in a new way. He could feel the soil of his foundation trembling as it grew deeper and more real. It was more of a rush than he had imagined and part of him wanted to run down to glory in it and see what else he could do. But no, his steps were getting heavier, the rain fell fiercer, and he had to trust in his design.

He'd almost reached the top now. Theo smiled, satisfied that all his blueprints had survived the test. Just as he considered taking the final steps, a more powerful shock made him lurch to the side. His neck whipped around, checking to see if anything had been damaged, and breathed a sigh of relief.

His soulhome had survived... but the tarp had partially torn free of its bindings.

Theo groaned as he saw the end flapping free, letting the acid rain flood into the cauldron. As soon as it did, he knew that it was a mistake: he could feel it interfering with the cauldron, fighting against integrating the mountainheart.

Did he really need it? Should he push this hard at the risk of his own foundation? It would be so easy to take the last few steps, surely that would be good enough...

Instead Theo thumped down the side of the pyramid back to his cauldron. He thrust his hand straight into the acidic rain, ignoring the burn as he cast another gravitational field. His abilities couldn't fight the onslaught from above, but they could control his own soulhome, so he forced out the rain and then repaired the tarp with numb fingers.

Now all he had to do was make it back up. He'd spent more than enough time letting the earthquake deepen his foundation, so he only needed to pierce the heavens. Yet somehow while he looked away, the pyramid seemed to have doubled in size.

Taking it at a run, Theo tried to sprint up the side, throw himself into the sky. He almost made it, but on his way up the bricks that had cracked before shattered and he fell against the pyramid. When he hit the side he tasted his own spiritual blood and struggled to force himself back up.

Not so far now. Soon he'd make it back to Stronghold... no, that wasn't true. He would finally leave his old life and memories behind, stepping into unknown territory. Whatever he soulcrafted would be completely new to him.

And in that moment the doubts fell away and Theo realized how happy that made him.

He climbed the final steps almost floating, buoyed by that realization. When he came up against the grinding pressure, he realized that he was actually glad to leave his old advantages behind. Whatever happened from this point on, it would be truly his.

When Theo cast his will against the sky, the power flooded down. He felt the rush of wind rejuvenate him, of course, but more than any previous ascension, he felt cantae flooding into the ground. Power swept through his soulhome and pooled in his basement, saturating the foundation around it and strengthening him in ways he hadn't expected.

Theo emerged from his soulhome with a smile on his face. He should have double-checked everything first, but for the first time he found that he didn't care. Nauda and Fiyu were cheering for him and when they pulled into an embrace he simply welcomed it.

"Congratulations, Theo." Fiyu's voice was muffled by the hug, but she didn't pull away.

"Look at the big bad Stronghold." Despite her words, Nauda smiled fondly.

"Thank you." For a time Theo just smiled back, resisting the urge to say that there was more work to be done.

Once the celebration ended, of course, he went back into his soulhome to assess its exact condition. Happiness and togetherness were all well and good, but there was soulcrafting to be done. More than ever before, which made him grin.

~ ~ ~

The ascension of a dear companion was always a cause for celebration, but Fiyu was especially glad to see that Friend Theo had reached Stronghold. For his own sake, yes, and also for hers. Sometimes one trod the path first and sometimes it was helpful to see someone else walk it. She examined his work closely to see what other wisdom she could glean.

It seemed that his ascension had been quite successful. He was currently busy collecting some tools that had broken free of their places, and a handful of new tables had been damaged, but there were no serious cracks anywhere in his soulhome. Somehow all of the damage had been contained to his foundation, which had been massively overturned and yet burned with new power.

That was just what she wanted, what she hoped that she could achieve. Now that Fiyu had seen it once, the only question was what path she would take herself.

From her observations, it seemed that the intensified cantae from a basement was very useful early on, but the true potential was unlocked only at Stronghold. Relative Guchiro had made similar statements in their conversations and she knew that it had taken him long years to develop his basement to its current state. In that case, she was still interested in opening her own basement, but she no longer considered it essential before her ascension, as she would not be using it in the same way as either companion.

And once she had decided that, the rest of her concerns were greatly simplified. What she needed was not any enhancement of her current chambers, but work toward her future: her Immortality Conduit. Where Friend Theo had walked ahead with his basement, she could explore first with her Conduit, making sure it was as fully entrenched in her soulhome as possible.

Following her relative's blueprint, she had already built and coated the channels that ran all the way through her soulhome's spiraling staircases. His blueprint had the channels unify in additional sublime materials that powered the Immortality Conduit, while her modification intended to place them in her basement.

Even if she wanted immortality now, it was too soon to try to finalize such a design, as Associate Senka had taught them. Instead, what she needed to do was find and assemble the power source for her Conduit, building as much as possible so that it would be reinforced by her ascension.

There was much to discuss with Friend Theo, particularly regarding basements, and she was eager to share her thoughts with Relative Guchiro. As they were both busy, or perhaps just because she wanted to, Fiyu instead approached Friend Nauda.

"Nauda, earlier you made a very generous offer of support..."

"Of course," Friend Nauda said, turning to her warmly. "You think I can help?"

Fiyu nodded happily. "I have an idea of what I might need next..."

Chapter 15

Now that Theo was a Stronghold there were a lot of things that he could potentially do. Aside from seeking out new Stronghold-tier sublime materials, he begrudgingly engaged in more politics. Standing in for Blacksilver, getting new identification from the Asplundat Movement, and generally taking on a role as one of the strongest soulcrafters on the continent.

What he really wanted to do, though, was soulcraft bricks.

When he'd come to the Nine Worlds as a teenager, he'd been irritated by the basics at first, thinking that making bricks was lame. Now that he thought about it, Vistgil had needed to feed him a lot of stupid lines to convince him that bricks were actually powerful and important. He should have led with the architectural principles, because those were what had really captured Theo's imagination.

Now he found himself enjoying the routine unashamedly. Maybe he was getting to be an old man in every way, but he enjoyed keeping his hands busy while he thought about other things. Besides, how much worse would it be if soulcrafting required doing tens of thousands of push-ups under increasingly improbably multiples of gravity? He was happy with bricks.

At the moment, however, he was lacking them. Stronghold-tier sublime materials suitable for walls weren't as rare as central materials, but they weren't something he'd find lying on the ground either. Considering that it took more time now, he wanted to get started on building his fifth floor as soon as possible.

So when Homez next appeared, Theo set the agenda first. "I need to find a time to leave the Asplundat Movement."

"Of course you can," Homez said carefully, "but why? Having you here goes a long way to making Blacksilver's presence feel legitimate."

"I need a wall material for my next floor, so-"

To his surprise, Homez chuckled then spread his arms wide. "I know the Movement isn't the wealthiest, but if there's one thing we have, it's stone. If we can't find something appropriate for your soulhome, I'll pay for all the sublime stone myself, I promise."

"Sounds like there's no downside," Theo said with a smile. "When can we go?"

As it turned out, the answer was "immediately". Homez used a pair of weirkeys - interestingly, he had an Arbaian one - and took them to a secret location, though it wasn't so secret after Theo memorized the path. They arrived at a massive quarry hidden deep within the nation's central bluffs, far from all their borders. Quarries were ubiquitous on Fithe, but this one was definitely important, not least because it had a Stronghold guard who was very alarmed to see a foreign Stronghold show up.

While Homez smoothed over that situation, Theo rotated in the air and took in the sights. It felt like every single pebble of the area was sublime stone, in a surprising number of varieties. He saw some ordinary pits in the earth, with laborers handling blocks of boring, practical defensive stone, but right beside it yawned a mineshaft that seemed to plummet into the bowels of the earth. Further afield, he saw a mining pit that seemed to be composed entirely of gemstones, and a large hill where they were using cantae attacks just to crack the stone.

"Alright, I've received special dispensation," Homez said as he returned. "You'll get the price a citizen would, so take your time and find a stone that's perfect for you."

Theo began searching through the mines, and as he scrutinized all the options, he realized that this was a fortunate turn of events. In fact, this alone justified all their cooperation with the Asplundat Movement as far as he was concerned. There were multiple types of sublime stone related to mass or more abstract heaviness and he could afford to be picky in choosing the absolute best.

Before he could actually make a decision, however, Theo realized that there were Authorities circling in the quarry around them. Just watching at first, then drawing closer. When Theo glanced over at Homez, the other man looked a bit concerned, and it didn't help when the Authorities all summoned their gray stone armor.

"You said you were inviting a single Authority," one of them shouted. "Now the Ruling Cities infest our lands and you bring one of them to our most valuable quarry?"

"These are all just part of the same agreements." Homez smiled and raised his arms as if he expected this to be resolved peacefully, but the other Authorities began to close in. "You know there are empires in our lands, right? We need to prepare for them or-"

"Not by giving in to the Ruling Cities!"

One of the young men rose into the air, clearly preparing for a burst of flight. Theo was contemplating whether or not he could pin them all with a gravitational field when he saw Homez staring at him pleadingly. It looked like he knew how a fight would go and was most concerned for his ostensible allies.

"Please," Homez said, "just-"

At that moment the Authority leapt in to attack, so Theo decided to let him. The suit of Asplundat stone struck him with one fist surrounded by an orb of stone, which smashed against his shoulder.

It shattered against Theo's armament coat.

While all the Authorities stared in shock, Theo theatrically brushed fragments of stone off his clothes. He'd felt the punch, but it hadn't really gotten through his armament. Even though Theo hadn't finished a proper Corporeal Floor, he still had five Corporeal Rooms, now massively reinforced by his Stronghold ascension along with all his other defenses.

There were some Authorities who might be able to punch up against him... but not these Authorities, not using bog standard Asplundat blueprints.

"Everyone, stand down!" Homez called out to both sides, as if Theo was just as responsible, but he let it go because it was obviously a stratagem. "We're truly on the same side here, so this accomplishes nothing."

"Are we really?" one of the women called. "From where we're standing, it looks like you've joined the enemy!"

Some of the others began to jeer, but when Theo took a step closer they floated backward. The one who had destroyed one fist of his armor was reforming it, eyeing Theo suspiciously. After smiling at all of them, Theo turned his back to the group to look at Homez.

"It seems to me that your own people are trying to assassinate you," he said. "Should we do something about that?"

"This definitely isn't an assassination attempt." Homez glared at the other Authorities as if to make sure his words were true. "They just... want to relieve some stress from the Movement being attacked on all sides."

"I don't mind, but is that really okay?"

"Let me handle this as an internal matter. Find the sublime stone that the Asplundat Movement promised you and don't worry about me."

Homez passed him to face the other Asplundat Authorities. It wasn't what Theo expected, but whatever exactly was going on, that was a brave thing to do, so Theo nodded respectfully. He kept examining the stone options while glancing over his shoulder.

As he tried to argue with the others, Homez seemed to be running up against a wall of hatred and anger. Theo wasn't sure if the man honestly believed his allies were just frustrated or if he only wanted it to be true. In any case, it wasn't long before one of them attacked.

In an instant Homez retaliated, dodging the punch and hammering an elbow on his opponent's shoulder. Unlike the others, who formed armor from the feet up, Homez somehow manifested his arm first, so the blow had real impact. It left the attacker on the ground with a broken breastplate... but the others were moving in now, all forming their armor.

The difference between them was immediately obvious. Even though they all worked from the same Asplundat blueprint, the five attackers barely had any variation or personalization: one woman carried a stone shield, one man used a slightly different type of stone - trivial stuff. By contrast, Homez formed sleeker armor with spiked gauntlets, elbows, and boots, which easily punctured his opponent's armor. Judging from his speed and strength, he had probably soulcrafted more efficient enhancement chambers, giving him a significant edge.

Based on the first few exchanges, Theo estimated that Homez was worth two or three standard Asplundat Authorities... but he couldn't take on five at once. They seemed to agree, because while four of them tangled him up, another came rushing toward Theo.

He ignored the man and kept looking at the different varieties of stone. Some of these actually felt like scientific mass to him, but given his options, he could hold out for a pure gravity stone... would it be too much to hope they had something related to black holes?

The Authority arrived and smashed a fist into Theo's back, which didn't accomplish much. Those bludgeon-like hands might be effective against flesh, but they were a terrible weapon against his coat because it spread out the force so easily. He would have had to dodge or block spiked armor like Homez's, but Theo just ignored the blows thumping into his back.

When Theo moved on to the next pile of stone, the Authority finally lunged around in front of him, blocking his path. Theo reached out with one hand and his fingers stabbed directly into the stone armor. Instead of pushing any further, he just used it as a grip and tossed the Authority over his head into the nearest quarry.

That distracted the others, so Theo glanced back at them to check on Homez. All of the fighters looked battered, with their armor either cracked or broken. Homez had taken the worst beating, but his armor appeared to be regrowing in a way the others didn't. Most likely his cantae flow was more efficient, so he could maintain the stone's form for longer.

"You sure about this?" Theo called.

"Just... a rough disagreement..." Homez spat out some blood and reformed the stone over his face.

While the uneven brawl seemed unfair to Theo, he accepted that Homez knew the local culture better than he did. Still, not taking a hand didn't mean he couldn't get involved. Without making any gestures, Theo began casting anchoring and mass techniques on Homez. He'd intended those for Nauda, helping her in melee combat, but they should work just as well here.

Homez looked startled at first, then adapted with only a brief glance at Theo. Now his blows struck more heavily and his opponents failed to budge him. They still had the numerical advantage, so Theo began casting narrow gravitational fields. At key moments, one of the Asplundat Authorities would suddenly lose control of their flight and plummet, which could mean loss in a fight like this.

In the end Homez was barely on his feet, but all five of his opponents had lost their armor and looked exhausted. Some of them cast fearful glances toward Theo, yet Homez was the one who kept their attention. Whatever this had been, it seemed to have earned some respect.

"Go home," Homez said wearily. "I promise you, everything I do, I do for the good of the Asplundat Movement. Go home and I'll forget about this as a simple misunderstanding."

"You really don't think they're infiltrating?" one of the Authorities asked. The demanding tone had become more plaintive.

"Some of them are. I don't trust House Crimson even when I can see them. But ask citizens on the border, or in the Dustwind Plateaus... House Blacksilver is not the enemy."

His words finally seemed to get through to them and the Authorities retreated, cradling a wide variety of injuries. Homez let out a sigh of pain as he made his armor slough away, except for one leg which he maintained, likely to protect the injured limb.

"You accuse the Ruling Cities of being violent tyrants," Theo said wryly, "but it looks like the Movement solves problems by beating each other up."

"Admittedly, this is not our finest hour." Homez shrugged sheepishly. "There are a lot of new young Authorities as the councils try to raise enough soulcrafters to fight the enemy. Please remember, most of them have never even left Movement territory, so they fear you."

"I'm not sure that helped, then."

"No, it did. They started today as a mob of youths, looking to beat someone up and vent their anger. The fact that it turned out like this... they'll remember it. Thank you, by the way. For the help."

"Not a problem." Theo turned back to the quarries. "Now, let's find the right stone."

Now that they weren't being distracted, it didn't take Theo long to find the perfect stone he needed: a dark material called voidgranite that could be bleached to produce a surprisingly light surface. So long as he worked it properly, he could keep his white exterior walls and have the interior be dark without even needing to do anything special within.

Better yet, he could buy enough to soulcraft all his Stronghold-tier walls, with enough left over for a decent tolerance for mistakes and a few experiments. Actually crafting all those bricks would take some time, but he wouldn't need to worry about running around to find more raw material. If this was his strength after ascension, he wanted to see how much he could soulcraft on this tier.

More important than raw power, however, would be strategy... before Theo could think about that too far, he saw that Homez was watching him carefully.

"I'd like you to go pay the local Stronghold directly," Homez said. "They'd appreciate the gesture, I'm sure you understand. And do you have Fithan Discs? Craftgems are fine, but it would be a better symbol if you could use Fithan currency, so I can exchang-"

"Oh, I have Discs." Theo had a whole pile of them from his Blacksilver wages, just taking up space in his storage room because it was hard to buy sublime materials at this tier. "Yeah, I can pay and jump through whatever other hoops you want."

"I know it seems onerous, but symbols really do matter now. Let them see that some outsiders can be trusted and maybe Tymetron won't be able to turn us against each other."

"You don't need to preach to me here. Is everything in your life a symbol?"

They'd both been speaking casually, but Homez actually looked a little hurt at that. An instant later, however, his eyes crinkled and he shot back, "Is everything in your life soulcrafting?"

"Yup." Theo grinned and hefted a chunk of stone. "And it's time for me to start on my next floor."