Skyvenom: Chapters 18-19

Here are your chapters for this week.

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Chapter 18

Being fitted for clothes was an alarming experience. Fiyu had accepted it as a child, with close relatives, but to have strangers touch and measure her? She had refused, instead taking the knotted line of string and entering the veiled room herself to perform her own measurements.

Even telling the Deuxans every detail about herself felt unsafe, but they were already tittering over her shyness, so Fiyu overcame her qualms.

Despite her aversion, she accepted that this was actually a harmless gift, just a way to prepare them for tomorrow's feast. It was essential that they found new allies, so they needed to make it clear that they were participating in Deuxan society. Fiyu did quite enjoy the feeling of their silks, so it was not entirely unpleasant. She could endure for the sake of earning new allies.

Ostensibly the veils between rooms existed to provide privacy, but they had no cantae to suppress senses, not even sound. Fiyu was aware of the entire building, from the other patrons to the seamstresses to Friend Nauda being measured in the nearby room.

Despite the illusion of privacy, Fiyu decided that it was permissible to observe further. Friend Nauda was already being draped in new fabric and she felt absolutely beautiful. Normally she wore relatively simple dresses, which were appropriate and practical, but only formed from a single compound layer. The elaborate Deuxan robes draped over her body exquisitely, and when a sash was added it cinched everything at the waist in a way that astonished Fiyu.

It was good that Friend Nauda usually wore her own Tatian clothes, but perhaps she could try other outfits in the future. Might she even be convinced to wear Ichili robes on their next journey there? That thought kept Fiyu distracted while she finished her measurements.

Once they were done, they both emerged into the main shop in their normal clothes. Because the workers were specialists, it would apparently not be a problem for them to finish the outfits in time for the feast. Everything else was the more concerning deadline.

"Did Theo go to his own shop?" Friend Nauda asked when they reunited. "No, I see men being fitted here..."

"He mumbled something about security," Fiyu said. "However, I am not sure that was true."

"Still bashing his way toward a basement? I hope that works out for him, or he's going to be very bitter about it."

Fiyu hoped that Friend Theo would be successful as well. She had reviewed local Deuxan customs, and now she had her robes prepared, but it was possible they would not be ready in all the ways that mattered. One day remained.

~ ~ ~

When he started feeling spiritually light-headed, Theo forced himself to retreat from his soulhome. It felt wrong to go from filthy to completely clean, as if some trace of his soulcrafting efforts should carry over to his real body. Or maybe it was just the fatigue of slamming himself against the unbreakable barrier.

The others were absent, no doubt pursuing their own preparations. Even Krikree was missing, eager to scout the city. He worried a bit about her, but trusted that she would be able to take care of herself and avoid trouble. Her extreme aversion to queens and princes might actually serve her well here when it came to avoiding causing any offense.

Which just left him and his useless almost-basement.

"No luck yet, huh?" Senka emerged and he realized that he'd missed her entirely.

"I can't even tell if I'm close." Theo dropped onto the couch in their main chamber and hung his head back. "Is there any way to tell how close I am?"

"That's the trouble with any barrier that acts as a limit. If it was impossible for you, you would have stalled out much earlier, but each foundation is a little different, so I can't tell you how close you are."

"Normally I disapprove of random theft, but I don't suppose you've stolen a magic sublime material that lets anyone open a basement?"

"You probably wouldn't want to use a shortcut like that if it existed." Senka's eyes sparkled maliciously. "But I suppose I could start stealing, if you really insist. Normally I would never, but if you insist I abandon my unshakable morals, I guess I have no choice..."

"Get down here." Theo grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the air so she was seated beside him. "You're joking, but don't. Offending our potential allies would cost us more than we could ever earn."

"Hmm, but is stealing from enemies acceptable? That might actually be interesting."

"Good question. Based on what I've read, I think they'd get offended if you targeted random merchants or otherwise harmed the economy - the convocation rules are supposed to limit that sort of damage, after all. But if it's just sublime materials from opposing soulcrafters, that might be acceptable."

"Huh. Not sure I'd get a chance."

They sat there for a while, staring at the opposite wall of their central room. It was silver, of course, with elaborate filigree that might have impressed him if so much of the palace wasn't covered in the same thing. Such work-intensive decorations were expensive back in the days when it was all done by hand, but Theo remembered machine-made panels being shipped by the truckload and wasn't really impressed.

Had he really taken on too much? He didn't think that Nourise would turn against them if he couldn't break through, and he'd intentionally not promised that exactly. But if he didn't break open his basement, he doubted he had much else that could impress her, and that would be a bad start to an alliance.

"I think I remember having trouble with this myself, a long time ago." Senka spoke up quietly, entirely different from her mocking tone earlier. "If I recall... the barrier is spiritual, but the methods are physical. Piercing will work better than digging, breaking up the soil might help, you just need to keep working at it."

"I will, once I recover. But I've done about all I can."

"You're one of the most intense soulcrafters I've ever met, Theo. If you really throw yourself into it, you might be able to take the last step."

He glanced down at her, looking for some hidden barb, but saw nothing. Senka was looking away from him, either embarrassed or contemplative.

"You're using a trowel, right?" She spoke a little more gruffly now.

"Yes, though it's getting bent."

"Try using it like a knife." Senka turned to him, grabbing his hands to demonstrate. "One hand wrapped around the handle, the other braced on top, then stab down."

"Huh." After a while, without saying anything else, Theo returned to his soulhome.

He was still a bit weary, so he lowered himself into the hole like an old man. When he ran his fingers over the dirt the barrier really did feel like he was close, just underneath the layer of dirt. Maybe it really took just a little bit more... Theo grasped the trowel like she'd suggested, prepared himself, and stabbed down.

Nothing.

No, not quite nothing: the tip did penetrate slightly further than he had in the past. Theo growled in anger and smashed his off hand into the dirt, as if he could batter down the barrier with brute force. It hurt, but the pain felt good, so he decided to indulge in the rage and hammered his fists against the barrier.

Was it his imagination, or had the dirt been slightly disrupted by his blows? His knuckles were bleeding and he definitely didn't think he'd break through with pummeling, even if he was more of a brute with his new Corporeal chambers. But perhaps the barrier was weakened... he picked up the trowel and examined it again, wondering if he was close enough.

Maybe what he needed was to go all-in. Theo clambered back out of the hole and found some of his other tools. First he considered his Esoteric Chisel, definitely his strongest... it was sharp, but was it really designed to pierce a barrier like this? He guessed that it would be just like using a well-made tool for the wrong purpose: even if it worked, it might cause damage.

Instead, he bent the already mangled trowel into a wedge, then began sharpening the tip. It would make a terrible dagger, but as a spirit tool...

When Theo returned to the hole, he was barely analyzing: not optimism or pessimism, not hope or despair, just pure soulcrafting. He knelt down on the barrier, gripped the handle, placed his other hand over the top like Senka had shown him, and slammed it down with all his might and willpower.

And the tip finally broke through.

This was no flood of cantae like an ascension, it was as if the air of his soulhome burst into flame. And yet this fire was part of him, rejuvenating his worn spirit. It seemed to burn away some dross in his soul, leaving his cantae more intense than before. He had just taken a step above almost every Authority he had ever fought.

The rush made Theo go back to scrabbling in the dirt, eager to discover more. His trowel had been completely destroyed, just a mangled lump of metal now. Instead he used his bare hands and laughed as his fingernails easily dug into the dirt. It required a real expenditure of will, so opening up new rooms would be at least as challenging as soulcrafting bricks, but it was possible to dig again.

All his adrenaline faded and Theo realized just how tired he was. He stumbled out of his soulhome and discovered Senka grinning at him. Technically he'd already been lying back on the couch, but now Theo flopped back onto it in a position of complete relaxation.

"Managed it."

"And with a day to spare," Senka said.

"I'm really glad I didn't tell her five or six days." Theo ran a hand through his hair and was almost surprised it was clean instead of encrusted with dirt. "For the first time I almost sympathize with lazy soulcrafters. I've had enough digging for a year."

"You say that now, but it won't last." Senka rolled her eyes at him. "Now, are you going to get over your paranoia about wearing Deuxan robes?"

"It still sounds like a scheme to get me out of my armament."

"Oh, please. You're dealing with enough Strongholds that playing the social game will be better armor than a few layers of sublime cloth."

"Fine, fine." Theo rolled his eyes and groaned, but as he got to his feet, he was grinning.

~ ~ ~

Finally it was time for the feast. Technically Nauda was supposed to be getting ready, but she had already changed into her new Deuxan robes and was instead spending time fiddling with her soulhome. Not that she could do any meaningful soulcrafting in these final hours.

Overall, she was surprised to realize that she actually felt confident. She had found a sort of living stone she'd gotten from Navim and used it as the final strut, so the three towers of her soulhome were actually unified. There were just pipes connecting them, nothing like the wide channels of cantae she wanted to build in the future, but the fact that some cantae could flow through the triangle was a great encouragement.

She had intentionally rejected the path of making each chamber mirror a body part, yet despite that, she felt the new strength in her legs. As if, in making this connection, she had taken her soulhome from three themed towers to truly embodying her legs. It wasn't quite enough for a new technique or anything fancy, but she and Fiyu had run a few tests and she was confident she had something that would work.

Accepting that she had fussed long enough, Nauda finally left her room to join the others. Theo was in the central chamber, tying a band around one sleeve. He looked sharp in his new robes, and beyond that, she was surprised by how Deuxan he looked. His skin matched the region, his blonde hair seemed more gold, and even his eyes somehow had a Deuxan cast to them despite not having the same metallic lashes. Now that she thought about it, there had been something a bit Tatian about him back on her home world. Everyone changed between worlds, but he seemed to blend into the Nine in a different way.

"You ready?" he asked, barely glancing at her new robes.

"I don't know if it will be enough to impress Nourise, but I'm ready." Nauda intended to sound confident, but ended up shaking her head. "I'm more worried about the potential politics during the feast."

"It will all work out if we have the power to back up our words, which we should. Just listen for what they want from us and don't say too much. They already know we need them to enter the war on our side, so there's no sense emphasizing it."

"Will it be just the three of us?"

Abruptly Senka floated up from behind one of the couches, arms folded sourly. She glanced at Theo, made a grimace as if she'd thrown up in her mouth, and then focused on Nauda. "For some sporping reason they didn't give me fancy Deuxan robes like the rest of you. I used to have entire wardrobes created for me!"

"Were you much of a clothing aficionado?" Nauda asked. "Somehow I can't imagine it."

"Oh, I never really cared, but it was nice to ignore all their effort."

Theo managed to get his sleeves fully tied and glanced back to his room. "They actually did try to fit Krikree for robes, but I think it didn't work well. Not sure if it was the number of arms or if she didn't cooperate." He took a step closer to rap on the door to his room. "Krikree?"

When he touched the door it opened and the Slescan tumbled out, wrapped in Deuxan silk. She had at least one arm trapped inside her robes and her head only peeked from the neck hole. Krikree jammed her head through, partially tearing the fabric, and twitched her antennae irritably.

"Not! Cloth bad. Krikree stay." She remained in a huddle on the floor and began chewing on the silk.

"That's probably for the best," Theo said mildly. "We'll call you if we need anything."

Nauda was trying to decide whether or not it was appropriate to laugh when she heard a door from behind her. She turned to look, knowing it would be Fiyu... and the sight still took her breath away.

Usually Fiyu was swathed in dark clothes and armor, but the elegant Deuxan robes revealed just how lithe she was. They were a paler silver than the common metallic robes, perfectly chosen to match her light skin. Instead of her mask she wore a translucent veil over her face... though it looked like she'd put her mask on underneath anyway. Nauda realized that it was the first time she'd seen the other woman not wearing boots: her slender legs seemed to flow naturally from her long robes to the silvery shoes that completed the outfit.

Fiyu was stunning... and fidgeting nervously. Nauda stepped closer and smiled. "You're beautiful."

"Thank you, Nauda. So are you."

"Yes, yes, we're all very pretty." Theo stepped up beside them and folded his arms. "Let's hope we're pretty enough to win a war."

Chapter 19

As they walked through the palace, Theo actually did feel armored in his new outfit. Maybe it was just the intensified cantae from his basement making him giddy, but no Deuxan court seemed able to stand against them. These wars and convocations needed soulcrafters, and they were excellent soulcrafters.

In theory the feast was going to take place in a separate hall, but their escort directed them back to the throne room. When they arrived, they discovered that Nourise aima Ostic was standing and waiting for them, having changed into more elaborate robes, with her hair massed atop her head with emerald pins.

"There you are," she said with a slight smile. "And appropriately dressed, too. Come this way and we'll discuss our potential war over a feast the likes of which you've never seen before. Ostic may not stand on ceremony, but we won't be shown up when it comes to feasting."

"First, I believe I issued a challenge." Theo gave a Deuxan bow as he stepped forward in the center of the room. "It has been one week, and we have been hard at work. Let us show you what this conflict means to us."

"Oh my, you're still so serious about that?" Nourise turned to face him and her Ethereal Floor swept to life, creating an intense tornado of cantae around her. "Then be quick about it."

Despite her challenge, Theo took a deep breath as he prepared. The cantae flows of his soulhome were second nature to him now, but he focused fully on them, fully saturating every step in the process with his new power. His cantae swept around his spherical flow, growing more intense as new power flowed from his singularity. He drew raw cantae from his Corporeal chambers, just to absolutely maximize what he had available, and routed it through the Ghostprism: he might not have mastered both sides, but the ethereal chamber could bring out its full potential.

Then he unleashed the flow, letting all of it explode from the window of his torsion chamber. The bolt that formed in front of his hand was more intense than before, not just in efficiency but with the raw cantae from his new basement. It hovered in front of his hand for a split second, then streaked across the room.

This time, when it pierced the wall of wind, it wasn't snuffed out. The Stronghold's cantae was still more intense than his, but the gap was shrinking and so his bolt drilled inward. By the time it had pushed half-way to the Stronghold, it had slowed but not stopped... Theo willed it onward, wondering if it could actually penetrate all the way to-

Nourise reached up and struck the bolt, crushing it in one fist. She feigned an indifferent expression, but Theo was sure that she hadn't intended to move at all. When it came down to it, with an attack from a mere Authority moving toward her, she had chosen to eliminate it instead of finding out what would happen.

"So you were close to a basement." Nourise lowered her head toward him in a barely discernible gesture of respect. "Unless you intentionally waited at the barrier, that's impressive, and honestly, if you waited for the sake of making a point, that's impressive in a different way."

"As I told you," Theo said, "every week matters to us. We spent all this time traveling to you because we think it will be worth it."

It looked like Nourise was going to say something else, but at that moment Fiyu stepped forward and lowered her head. "I fear I do not have a second demonstration. I have been improving my shielding wall, but my objectives will only reach fruition in the long term."

"There's no need for that." Nourise waved a hand and turned away. "You didn't want me to undervalue you, and you've made your point. I'll be-"

"Wait." Nauda stepped forward as well, staff at her side. "I haven't been idle either."

"Oh, if you insist." Nourise turned back and rejuvenated the wind around her. "Have you strengthened that little staff technique of yours?"

"Not exactly."

Nauda charged forward and Theo was surprised by how each step made the throne room tremble. It wasn't just her soulhome working in greater unity, it was all being channeled into her legs by her design. She ran directly to the side of the wall of wind and stopped by slamming one foot down into the floor.

The shockwave tore through the floor, ripping up the silver plating as it rolled underneath the wind. It grew as it traveled until it hit Nourise, who was knocked into the air... and immediately hovered, unharmed.

"Powerful, I'll admit, but not a particularly useful technique when all soulcrafters who are a threat to you can fly."

"That wasn't a technique I've mastered," Nauda said, "that was a technique that didn't exist a week ago."

"We aren't asking you for charity." Theo stepped up beside Nauda and fixed his gaze on the Stronghold watching them. "We're here to convince you that it's in your best interest to invest in us. You measure time in months or years, so imagine where we'll be then."

"Yes, yes, you've made your point." Nourise raised her arms to either side of her head as if in surrender and it looked like she suppressed a trace of a smile. "There's an old saying that there are two types of Authorities: those who serve the court, and those who will found their own one day."

"Then we're agreed?"

"That will be decided at the feast, when I find out whether or not you can be reasonable. I was already planning to support you if you could help me in my own war, but I'll make some additional arrangements. Now stop showing off and join me in the feasting hall."

Her Ethereal Floor closed and the wind faded, leaving not a hair out of place. Yet Theo and Nauda looked equally untouched, since it truly had been just a demonstration. They were able to stroll into the feasting hall together as if they hadn't just been sparring.

The large hall - high and silver, naturally - had several long tables down the center and a fancier table on a raised platform at the end. Where most organizations would have crowded the room to show their strength, this hall wasn't even filled to ten percent capacity. Perhaps more would enter later, or perhaps what they wanted to emphasize was exclusivity.

All the other Deuxans bowed or clapped as Nourise walked past the main tables and ascended to the top - not as worshipfully as in other courts, but still respectful. She gestured for Theo's group to take positions behind chairs, and moments later a number of other guests emerged from the sides to join them. The table was set not with food, but a map.

"I am currently participating in three wars decided by convocation," Nourise announced. "Five if you count political games in Accilonia and an affair in far eastern Socirro. But in these three places, I could actually be called upon to fight against other Strongholds. If you want my help in your own war, you need to take one of them off my hands."

She tapped the map in three places: Northern, Western, and Southern Ostic. Without further information, that meant nothing to Theo, but he suspected this was all theater anyway.

"The three of you are Authorities who have proven themselves... do I have your pledge that you'll fight on behalf of Greater Ostic in one of these?"

"We'd need more information about what would be required of us," Theo said.

"That's what the feast is for. But do you pledge your service in good faith?"

"We do."

"Very good." Nourise clapped her hands to the side of her head. "Bring out the sublime feast for our guests!"

Servants practically lunged from the shadows, filling the table with shocking efficiency without obscuring the map. Theo was seated in between Nourise and a Ruler-tier man. He noted that Nauda and Fiyu were seated not so far away, separated from one another. They would be fine, so long as he could finish negotiations with the Stronghold.

For a time there was only light conversation as they ate. Every dish was small and artfully plated, with central morsels like sublime meat or fruit surrounded by sauces, garnishes, and other sublime materials of considerable strength. Theo cared less about the quality of the flavors than the quality of the cantae, since this would be an excellent upgrade to his Nine Worlds Feast.

After the first course, however, Nourise leaned forward to touch the map again. "The conflict in the north is a deadlock between multiple courts, so I think it's out of the running unless you're even more aggressive than you've shown yourselves to be. In each of these lesser courts, however, there are conflicts where a few more Authorities could resolve things for me."

"We fought some Authorities from Occoire Court in Southern Ostic," Nauda pointed out. "So we've already helped your war against them, haven't we?"

"And Ostic Court thanks you for that," Nourise said smoothly. "If you want to fight in Southern Ostic, you will have more than your fill of it, and not all the battles would be so easy. I would welcome your support there, but if you want to prove yourselves faster, you could fight in Western Ostic. There's another war against Occoire there."

"Two fronts against the same enemy?" Fiyu asked. "Is that not the same conflict?"

"Maybe that seems logical to you, but not here. There are two separate courts, you see. Southern Ostic is a rich domain, with more farmland than you see here. Either Greater Ostic or Occoire would be glad to claim it, and so the conflict there is fierce and unending.

"Western Ostic, on the other hand, is a poor region. Sartozi wants to take it for Occoire less because of its value and more as an insult to me. Of course, I need to defend it as a matter of honor. He didn't attack directly, of course, but used local squabbling as a pretext. If you could resolve that problem for me, it would reduce pressure from both within and without."

"It sounds like either could be worthwhile," Theo said. "Why don't we discuss the details over the next course?"

That seemed to have been a suitably Deuxan thing to say, because Nourise gestured and the feast continued. As they all ate a sublime confection of crystal sugar, their conversation split into several small discussions. Chlira discussed the distribution of Authorities with Fiyu, who responded unusually frostily. Nauda spoke to a grizzled old man about other military details.

Which left Theo talking to the man on his other side, who turned out to be a poison expert. He asked several questions about Theo's symptoms and the confrontation with Esaire, even though he seemed certain as soon as he heard about the green sky. Once they had covered every possible angle, the poison specialist sat back and nodded.

"I can tell you, with very little doubt, that you were infected with a poison called skyvenom."

"So it's a known quantity?" Theo asked. "Do you have an established antidote?"

"Not as such, because it works by disrupting the soulhome's atmosphere," the poison specialist said. "There are a number of different ways to limit the symptoms, which we could discuss giv-"

"What about these?"

As Theo showed both their stopgap method and the pill he'd seized in combat, the poison specialist's eyes widened. "These will do," he said eventually. "Your own remedy, while crude, is definitely effective at avoiding secondary consequences. As for this remedy, it is sealease, a great panacea for soulcrafting ills. I will confirm the purity, but it should completely eliminate disturbances to the soulhome."

"But it's still blocking my ascension?"

"Yes, I fear so. We do know of a sublime material that will pierce those clouds, raining down the poison until it is completely spent. You will need to clean up all the additional poison to make sure it does not harm your soulhome, but you could be rid of it."

Theo pretended to consider out of politeness and then sighed. "Thank you for the offer, but will the disruption dissipate on its own?"

"Given enough time, yes." The poison specialist chuckled awkwardly. "Normally I would say an Authority has a lifetime to let it pass, but Aima Nourise has indicated you are all in rather a hurry."

"She told you to help us, right?" When the man nodded, Theo continued. "Look for another solution, if you think there could be one. Until then, I have enough soulcrafting to do."

"I can try, but that will be a challenge. Skyvenom does not exist here, nor anywhere in all of Socirro. It can only have been brought from outside, perhaps even from the Demon Court as you suggested."

"That's something I wanted to talk about." Nourise interrupted their conversation, not raising her voice yet managing to redirect all attention to herself. "It's strange how a minor noble from nowhere could draw the attention of the Demon Court. Not unprecedented, just worrying. I wanted to discuss those details."

As they began explaining what they knew, Theo realized that he'd failed to get the poison specialist's name. He'd planned to ask him when the conversation became less focused on business and lost his chance. So much for his pledge to pay more attention to that sort of thing - when he was playing politics with Strongholds, it was easy to forget about the rest.

"I do not understand why they would move this way," Fiyu was saying. "If they want something here, why not act directly? Why work through bribes and manipulation?"

"It's considered bad manners to meddle in the affairs of courts beneath you," Nourise explained. "As much as I hate to admit it, the Demon Court is a great power of all Deuxan, not just our continent. Ordinarily they wouldn't even get this far involved, but recently they have begun acting more aggressively."

"Do we know why they'd do that?" Nauda asked.

"No one can say for certain. What I can tell you is that this is far from the first time they have tried to interfere. Honestly, I've been a little offended that they never approached me. What does Sartozi have that I don't?"

"Wasn't there that other representative?" The grizzled Authority beside Nauda started to speak, hesitated when he saw Nourise's gaze, and then realized it was too late. Whatever the issue, Nourise was less eager to talk about it.

"It's true, there are at least two powerful courts who sent representatives to Accilonia," Nourise admitted. "I know less of them, but a 'Mercury Court' started asking questions here. It is entirely possible that the two are using Socirro to fight a proxy war, or perhaps they want something here. All the more reason to get our own house in order before the conflict becomes further entangled."

From there the conversation returned to Southern and Western Ostic, though now Theo had a much stronger grasp of the politics involved. To him, the war in Southern Ostic sounded like a long campaign, whereas the problems in Western Ostic were more of an unsolved quandary. He'd prefer the latter, if he had a better idea as to whether or not they could handle it quickly.

In any case, it wasn't all concessions. In return for their promise to assist, Theo and his allies received promises of support and aid in the short term, then Nourise fighting on their side in the convocation of souls once their mission was complete. It was everything he could reasonably have hoped for from the meeting, so Theo should have been appeased.

Instead he found himself looking at the map and thinking about the courts off its edges. It could be that the Demon Court and this Mercury Court were just more Deuxans fighting their own battles, but it was very possible that one or both of them were actually being controlled by Vistgil. Based on what Esaire had said about Brigana's family, it might even be directly related to her past.

If that was true, Theo was finally getting close to Vistgil's real plans. And if so, he doubted that some fancy clothes, some negotiations, and even his new basement would be enough.