Book Three - Chapter Twenty-Three (Patreon)

“He is busy,” Nessa said, her voice a little too chipper for Lily’s liking.

The words were an understatement. Alarion wasn’t busy; he was drowning.

Alarion’s new office was a third the size of the Commandant’s. Built to host small private meetings, it would have been cramped without the boxes upon boxes of paperwork stacked to the ceiling along the left wall. With them, it felt claustrophobic and dim, half the room’s lighting barely peeking through gaps in the Imperial bureaucracy.

The Orphan himself looked better and worse than he had in the aftermath of the Three-Quarters Match. Physical exhaustion had been replaced by mental fatigue, his scabs and bruises given over to dark circles under dead eyes.

“I can see that,” Lily replied, her tone pointedly neutral. “That is why I have brought coffee and—”

“Let her in,” Alarion commanded, the moment he heard the word coffee. “I need to take a break at some point.”

Nessa hovered in the doorway for a few heartbeats, then heaved a put-upon sigh and slid out of the way just long enough to admit Lily, before closing the door behind her.

“It never ends, does it?” Lily asked, offering a sympathetic mug.

Alarion shook his head as he greedily claimed the drink for his own.

“It does not.” He winced as the bitter, steaming liquid assaulted his tongue, then gave an appreciative groan. “If I had realized that Blue Ex was going to involve any of this, I think I would have just killed her. There is no paperwork in prison.”

“Not unless you are Centre,” Lily fished a clipboard out of her bag as she took a seat across from him, causing Alarion to spit her with a nasty glare. “It is not for you,” she reassured him. “Just my notes.”

“Mm.” Alarion took another sip of his coffee, then eyed the mug more skeptically. Was it pity coffee? Or was she buttering him up?

“If it isn’t urgent—”

“Do you think I came here to waste his—”

“Can both of you just… stop?” Alarion placed his face in his hands, fingers working circles over his eyes. When he came back up, his eyes were clear and focused. “Nessa is right. We are leaving for Ilvan-Sayd in three days, so if it can wait, then let it wait. But you are also smart enough to know that.”

Lily placed an elbow on the corner of his overflowing desk and perched her chin upon it with a winning smile as she spoke. “Alarion, that might be the nicest thing you have ever said to me. I am flattered.”

Alarion narrowed his eyes and held her gaze. She’d cut down heavily on teasing ever since she’d made things official with Bergman, but years of weaponizing her looks had made her a flirt at heart. He’d been a shy boy when she’d met him, but as time passed it was getting harder and harder to get a blush out of him.

“Flattered enough to get to the point?” Nessa said while making a face Lily couldn’t see.

Lily’s eyes flicked toward Nessa’s general vicinity in a glare that didn’t quite land, then back to Alarion. She studied him for a few moments, then sat back and took a pull of her own coffee as she began. “It is a short list, I promise. First, some new rulings came back regarding Centre.”

Try as he might—his face scrunched tight in concentration—Alarion couldn’t remember a damn thing about the last set of documents they’d sent to Ashad-Vitri by courier. “Remind me.”

“He was asking for more delays, more discovery, some fact preclusion, and his request for an emergency transfer.”

“Oh, right.” Some of that, at least, sounded familiar. “I assume they told him to pound sand as usual?

“That is a vivid way of putting it,” said Lily, her disapproval of his word choice as visual as it was verbal. “But no, actually.”

“No on which,” Alarion asked, suddenly much more invested. He studied Lily’s face, then swore. “You cannot be serious.”

“I told you there was a chance,” Lily reminded him.

“A chance, yes. As in one in a million, not…” A fire simmered behind each word, barely a step off from full conflagration. “We are seriously expected to drag him with us for months?”

“You are the one who offered him Aegis.”

Lily was right, but that hardly made it better.

Alarion’s decision to take custody of Centre after the disaster at Ikeda had been a contentious one, even among the Ashadi. Those closest to Alarion understood his complex decision-making—the debt he owed for assisting Nessa, his desire to see the man punished fairly and his certainty that Centre was key to a deeper plot—but to others Alarion appeared naive at best and seditious at worst.

There had been three attempts on Centre’s life during his time in custody. A cook had tried to poison him as retribution for the death of her family in Ashad-Sitri, a visitor had been caught at the gate with explosives, and a small team of unidentified Awakened had been slaughtered outside the vault.

All three had failed because Alarion took his prisoner’s protection seriously, something the Vitrians would never have done. Left in their care, Alarion had no doubt Centre would have been served to an assassin—possibly a Vitrian assassin—within months.

And now Alarion was being ordered to escort the old man across the breadth and width of Ashad. It was absurd, but according to a court, Centre had every right to stay close to his guardian.

“If there are any Bones left, this will be the chance they have been waiting for. He will need extra security—”

“It is on the top of my list,” Lily assured him. “The jails in Ilvan-Syed are still overflowing with his seditionist ilk. Loathe as I am to do so, I suggest we find him a room alongside the senior staff. He will be safer if we keep him close to home.”

Alarion turned the suggestion over in his mind, then reluctantly nodded. “Do it. I’ll break the news to Anastacia.”

“Anastacia? My, you two did mend that fence quickly.”

“What is next?” Alarion scowled. “More bad news?”

“Mixed.” Lily shrugged. “Another letter from Emmaline.”

For a second, the tension in Alarion’s shoulders said more than the man himself was able. Every letter from Emmaline could be the one, the letter bragging that her genealogy project had been successful. That the Felns had finally located Alarion’s sister.

The fear was palpable, but short-lived. Lily would have led with a message like that.

“No news. Just some answers about the Lieutenant.”

There were scant few perks to being spied on by powerful and malicious Vitrians, but information was one of them. So long as Lily had good cause to ask, Emmaline was more than happy to provide her agent with secret, sometimes even classified information. Emmaline had asked Lily to get close to Anastacia, so Anastacia had in turn asked for privileged information regarding their new lieutenant.

“You were correct about Trinity,” she told him. “She was permitted to use the challenge dungeon late last year. No word on how well she did, but she was inside for a little over two months.”

“Or time? Or hers?”

“Ours.”

With the time-dilation effect of the challenge dungeon that would have been, what? Half a year? That was twice as long as Alarion spent inside, which tracked, given how important it had been to her development.

“Was she a victor?” Alarion inquired.

“Impossible to tell,” answered Lily. “It would be something to preen about if she had, which has me leaning toward no, but the only reason we know she went in and out was because of travel records.”

“Mm.” It was more or less what he’d expected. For a society that ostensibly hated lying, Vitrians did love their secrets.

Alarion wasn’t sure which answer he’d have preferred anyway. The competitive side of him obviously hoped that she’d failed, but it was in strong competition with a growing sense of camaraderie.

He had more in common with Anastacia than he cared to admit. There were obvious ties, like their familiars and their favor and history with Valentina, but beneath those were just as many subtle similarities. They were both straightforward, both as honest as society would let them be. They were both aggressive in combat and calm outside of it. Maybe it was because they’d spent so much of the last several weeks working in tandem, or perhaps because they’d beaten the distaste out of one another, but Alarion was finding it harder and harder to actively dislike Anastacia.

And though he’d never admit it openly, Alarion had, begrudgingly, started to respect her.

“There is one note you might find interesting,” Lily continued. “After her time in the dungeon, the Lieutenant was temporarily reassigned to an investigative party working on behalf of Imperator Seric.”

Alarion cocked his head. “Why?”

“The letter does not say. Only that the investigative party had been looking for some Celesian relic for over a year, then stumbled onto it days after she joined them.”

On instinct, Alarion slid a hand into his pocket and returned with a gleaming silver watch.

Pocket Watch of the Heart’s Desire [Divine]

Description: This intricate silver pocket watch is engraved with the heraldry of Lal Viren and her incarnation, Valentina Lyons. Devices such as these are provided to all those who successfully complete a Challenge of the Heart while in Lal Viren’s favor.

Requirements: Trait – Favor of Lal Viren (Minor) or higher.

Attunement Cost: None

Type: Misc.

Enchantment: On verbal command, the hands of this pocket watch will cease to tell time and will instead direct its owner toward their heart’s desire. The hands will remain in this position until the user approaches within 100 yards or the user cancels the effect. This effect will only function three times. This watch cannot be taken or used involuntarily by anyone other than its owner, but it can be given to another who has the favor of Lal Viren. Should it be taken, it will reappear at its owner’s side within 24 hours.

“My thoughts exactly,” said Lily. “I cannot ask without raising suspicions, but I suspect her watch in particular—and their existence in general—is a closely guarded secret.”

That made sense. The ability to find something you wanted—even if it was hidden—was worth killing over. If the dungeon reward were more widespread, Syrus would have found Atra years ago.

The usual playfulness was gone from Lily’s voice as she asked, “Have you given it any more thought?”

“You know I can’t,” Alarion replied bitterly.

“But—”

“For someone who says she’s turned her coat a second time,” interrupted Nessa, her voice positively dripping with anger. “You sure keep trying to find what Syrus wants.”

“Alarion wants the same thing,” Lily said, struggling to keep her tone neutral. “I know I keep circling back, but this is just one more example of why it is foolish to wait! You have to be proactive. You can’t just hope for the best.”

The conversation was as circular as they came. Lily and Alarion had spun around the same points and rebuttals a dozen times or more since he’d first revealed the [Pocket Watch of the Heart’s Desire] to her. No doubt they’d do so half a hundred times more until one of them was finally proven correct.

“If I know where she is, Syrus can torture it out of me,” Alarion told her, as firm in this conviction as any he’d ever held. “And if I am too strong to crack physically—which I do not know that I am—then he can threaten you. Or Ivor. Or Nessa. What I don’t know can’t hurt Atra. Or you.”

“And when he finds her?” Lily pressed.

“He has had years to look and come up empty-handed.”

“If she is still out there—”

“She is,” Alarion snapped with such conviction that Lily flinched away from him. “And he won’t.”

Across the table, Lily was quiet. Not afraid, but cautious. She was canny enough to know when to push and when to wait. Sometimes it was enough to let a person sit with their answer, to let them see if they were really happy with it.

“If I—”

“Dad.” Nessa stopped him with a word. Her petty demeanor was gone, her blue eyes burrowing into his. Alarion felt her emotions rise through their shared bond, and she gasped as he flinched away.

“You already did,” she whispered.

Lily leaned forward, eyebrows raised. “What?!”

There was no denying it. Nessa knew when he was lying just as easily as she knew when he was telling the truth. His conviction had been too certain. He hadn’t hoped that his sister was alive; he’d known it.

He’d known it for two years.

“She is to the north-east,” he admitted. “That is all I know.”

“Half the world is to the north-east,” Lily chided. “Al-Raeve, but also parts of Imuria, the Principalities, the Merchant Cities and two entire continents besides. And that is assuming you used it correctly. Divine items can be capricious, pointing you to what it thinks you need rather than what you want. Let me get a map.”

“No,” Alarion said firmly. “This doesn’t change anything.”

“Alarion.”

“I mean it, Lily,” his shoulders sank as he spoke. “I looked not long after Trinity. I didn’t realize how much danger I was in, but I also didn’t know how to read a map at the time. I can find her if I have to, but the best thing I can do for my sister is keep my distance.”

“Unless the Felns find her, in which case—”

A knock at the door put an end to the spiral just as it began anew. Reluctantly, Lily got up to answer it, but not before casting Alarion a look that promised the conversation was far from over.

That stern expression brightened in an instant when she saw their visitor.

“Ivor!” she announced, clasping his large hand in hers and dragging him in behind her. “We were just discussing—”

“No.” Not only was Alarion uninterested in returning to the topic, but he could see that Bergman had come for more than a visit. “What do you need?”

“W-We have our answer. On B-Blue Ex.”

None of them had to ask what Bergman meant. Theories as to why Ashad had been chosen to host the exercise had been flying left and right in the weeks since the announcement. Some were straightforward: the Vitrians hoped to benefit from the Grand Awakening, or they wanted to show they valued the province. Others were outlandish: Blue Ex was cover for the Curia to secretly depose Williams, or prepare for a second coming of the Bones of Ashad.

The newspaper Bergman tossed on the table laid out a much more compelling case:

Ashad-Vitri, Ashad Province — Representatives of five southern nations concluded talks in the free city of Mirsa this week, emerging with signatures upon a mutual defence and economic compact styled the ‘South Seas Alliance’.

Signatories include the Kingdom of Galia, the Dinnaian Dominion, Tallow, Al-Ophai, and Mirsa itself. Under the terms released to the public, an attack upon any signatory is to be treated as an attack upon all, with each state pledging levies, ports, and free passage to the others in perpetuity.

A joint statement of causes was released alongside the announcement, citing Vitrian aggression and a right to sovereignty and self-determination among the primary motivating factors. Separate from this document, the Mirsan delegation renewed their call for Athern Paytol—the accused leader of the Bones of Ashad—to be tried in an independent international court.

The Bazaar, long courted as a natural anchor for the proposed alliance, declined to sign the compact at this time, citing The Raven’s longstanding policy of international neutrality.

Imperator Seric offered the following remarks when asked for comment:

“I am sad to see that our former Celesian brothers and sisters have resorted to base fear and accusation. The Vitrian Empire has neither claim nor interest in the territories of this so-called Alliance, but neither will we allow them to dictate policy in Vitria or her territories.”

Analysts have described the combined Alliance forces as modest in means, noting that with the absence of the Bazaar the Vitrian army remains stronger in both quantity and quality. Others, however, have pointed to the alliance’s large naval assets and potential for blockade or interdiction in the case of war.

Following the announcement, Vitrian military officials have also confirmed that this year’s Joint Readiness and Trial Exercises, informally known as Blue Ex, will be conducted this summer in the province of Ashad. Elements of the 86th Regulars have been dispatched and will be joined by local garrison units as well as the provincial Auxilia, including the celebrated 238th Ashadi Auxilia Company.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Governor has stated that the timing of this exercise is unrelated to the South Seas announcement and that Blue Ex has been planned months in advance. Provincial residents of Ashad are advises— [Continued on A4]

The Vitrians were baring their claws at a new rival.