Elder Cultivator

The question of whether or not to trust Lelka was a difficult one. Her intentions appeared genuine, but it was also clear that they were… shallow. Rooted in desires of survival rather than some sort of loyalty to the Scarlet Alliance. Of course, it would have been strange if Lelka had any attachment to them. It wasn’t like they’d done anything for her, except let her leave with them.

Velvet felt personally responsible for sorting that situation out, which meant frequent interactions with Lelka. For her part, the woman seemed quite content with her position. At least, overall.

“Do you think I could have more time outside?” Lelka asked.

“That would be quite difficult,” Velvet said. “We are already quite generous.” She had heard the woman’s story- at least how she came to be in her final position. Doubtless there were centuries of earlier life within the Citadel of Exalted Light. Ultimately, she’d been forced to be a replacement by her association. “Why did you not try to stop us?”

Lelka raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget? By the time we met outside your ship, everything was over for me within the Citadel.”

“Before that, though,” Velvet said. “You spotted us. Giving us away would have doomed our mission and secured your position.”

“And what position did you think I had?” Lelka asked.

“Seneschal to the sect head. That seems like a pretty cozy position.”

“Except for the part where I was responsible for everything. And not in the good ways. Plus, it’s not like I wanted to spend more time around Zaur.” Lelka shook her head. “Besides, I dispute your premise. Your group would have managed a ridiculous success no matter what I did. I’m pretty sure that swordmaster with you died and then cut the planet in half. In that order.”

“We survived the battle with Ludek without her. It’s at least partially due to you that your group set foot on our capital world before we spotted you.”

“I thought you noticed us slipping onto the ship?”

“Semantics. You were practically there. And you can’t tell me that shooting that ship out of the sky would have helped. I think the results justify my assumptions. I am alive. That’s what I wanted.”

Velvet looked at her. “You complain about being imprisoned every time we see each other.”

“Because I know you won’t make things terrible for me and I might get lucky. It got me the best pillow I’ve ever had,” Lelka shrugged.

“Aren’t you bitter at us? We were enemies.”

“Not personally. And yes, I know that Laurit died to one of you. But that was her own fault. Or Zaur’s. Or Everheart.”

“Everheart is to blame for everything,” Velvet nodded.

“Exactly. Maybe even for Laurit dragging me into view, and ending up as seneschal. I had plenty of good reasons to not want to be there.”

Velvet shook her head slowly. “I imagine I would be quite bitter at the people who killed my sister.”

“It’s that sort of thing that made me interested in your group to begin with. You don’t even torture your prisoners.”

“It’s an ineffective method of information extraction,” Velvet countered.

“You can make it effective,” Lelka said. “But you didn’t even develop things in that direction. What’s the point of all this anyway? I already said you can just keep me locked up forever. It would be fine.”

Velvet deflected her question with another one. “Why were you an ineffective seneschal?”

“Because nobody can do the job if they aren’t actually given the necessary authority,” Lelka said. “Did you know Everheart robbed the vaults during that first war? I wasn’t even allowed to check on the security.”

“It probably wouldn’t have helped,” Velvet said. “But I get the point.” With a finger on her chin, she went back to the other topic. “We wouldn’t start you in a position of any importance, obviously.”

Lelka’s expression was clearly trying to hide excitement. No matter how much she expressed acceptance of her current position, she still had complaints about her status. “So there’s actually a chance of me getting out?”

“We have to verify more of your intel first,” Velvet said. “Like that list of Domination cultivators.”

“It’s probably not complete,” Lelka explained. “But everyone on there I listed had been confirmed. Not that it’s a long list.”

“Sudin is a bit of a problem,” Velvet said.

“Why him specifically? Actually, it’s only natural to assume that the Twin Soul Sect would have one. They could even have more, with their reincarnations. They’re all the way over in the Trigold Cluster anyway.”

“You do realize that they’re a lot closer to us than to where you were?”

Lelka shrugged. “Honestly, we didn’t even consider the Scarlet Midfields as a relevant stretch of distance. But anyway, you guys haven’t even had conflict with them. What’s the big deal?”

“Hmm.”

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“Hmm? You can’t just respond with hmm! Now I’m curious,” Lelka said. “Seriously, did you fight them and we never heard about it? Oh, was it before you ascended? I suppose they might remember you, potentially. But they have a lot of grudges to take care of locally too. Then there are the people in the lower realms. I heard they lost an entire sector. Honestly, that was kind of hilarious.” Then she frowned. “Oh. Waaait…”

Velvet stood up. “You’re too clever to languish in a minor position if you ever get out.”

“Can I request something that’s not public-facing?” Lelka said. “Because of assassins. And it being a pain.”

“Got any informants in the Trigold Cluster who would swap?”

“I know some that would be glad to sell the same information to another set of people,” Lelka commented. “Does that count?”

“Probably. You could join the information division.”

“Can’t I get a job in, uh, the backwater farming division?”

“Sorry, that one’s full up. And way more competitive than you might think. You should see the tree growing contest. It’s a mad brawl for second place.”

“... Wouldn’t people be trying to win?”

“Only if they had a chance,” Velvet said. Lelka had made some guesses about their connections to the lower realms. It wasn’t clear how much, exactly, but that just meant being even more careful about trusting her. But Velvet had the feeling that as the years passed, she was the one who was going to get worn down. Especially since she really believed Lelka. And Durff did too, which helped.

-----

“Starheart would be good.” Durff was looking over a list of materials. There were a lot of properties that probably made sense to the right sort of people like hardness and tensile strength and stuff. He just knew they were different words for durability that he’d need to feel to know if they suited him.

Starheart was at the top though. And more than that, the tiny fragment he’d gotten to experience was great. But since most Domination cultivators didn’t have access to anything made with starheart, and he really didn’t like how worldheart was harvested either, he had to settle for other options.

“Turtle shell?” He wasn’t sure why it was on this list, or why it was so highly rated. It was weird. What kind of turtle? For it to be that good, it had to be a specific turtle, didn’t it? Like the Lord of the Seas or Queen of the Depths or some fancy titled one. Why was the potential arrival date ‘indeterminate’ instead of ‘unavailable’ like starheart? He also wondered where they got the information on starheart to begin with because he was pretty sure they didn’t have any.

Durff went to find someone to help answer his questions. He wasn’t really good at using this ‘information network’ he had access to. He could put in the question ‘why is this turtle shell so important’ and it would just bring up a bunch of stuff about Akrys. Akrys was pretty cool, actually. He kind of wished he could visit, but then again so did a lot of people. Either way, it was in the lower realms so he really couldn’t. Unless… it was less than a century until the shift in the tides of the world. Would that be okay? He’d have to ask. Lots of people would probably have opinions.

The person Durff found to answer his questions was Alva. She’d at least do her best. “Why is this turtle shell on the list?”

Alva blinked. “And hello to you too, Durff.” She looked at the list he was holding up. “Well, it seems pretty strong.”

“Did someone kill a big turtle or something? It’s not listed as a limited resource though. Or rather, it’s just time limited instead of quantity limited.”

“That's kind of the same thing,” Alva said. “Here, let me look it up for you.” All she had to do was enter some of the information, and with her credentials she could find a lot more. It wasn’t like they were hiding anything from Durff, but even if he could operate computers his security credentials couldn’t be that high for such things, just in case someone could replicate his aura. Getting the password from him would either be trivial or… harder than squeezing water from rocks. Tricking him would be the easier option, but forcing him definitely wouldn’t work. He’d never willingly betray them. He just wasn’t that sort of guy. “Oh. It’s Paradise,” Alva said.

“Are there really strong turtles on this planet called Paradise?” Durff asked.

“Paradise is the turtle. Apparently, bits of his shell are removed occasionally to help direct his growth. So you can theoretically get some sent with someone ascending, since he’s in the lower realms..”

“Oh. That’s why it’s an indeterminate time.” Durff nodded. “Is Paradise strong? Stronger than uh… Mauled-by-Wolves?”

“You met that guy?” Alva asked. “And yes, yes he is. Would you like to see him?”

“Can I go to the lower realms?” Durff asked.

“No. I mean, nobody can, right now. I meant a picture,” Alva held it up.

“Oh!” Durff looked. “Cool turtle. Doesn’t look that tough, though.”

Alva looked over at the picture and began to zoom it in. Soon, towering trees and buildings began to appear. “He’s big.”

“Ohhh!” Durff said. “He’s biiiig.” He leaned in, as if that would help him see better. “Is that a painting?”

“It’s a picture,” Alva said. “You know pictures. It’s a copy of what you’d actually see.”

“Where’s the water and why are there stars in the background?”

Alva shrugged. “He’s in space now.”

“Are there fish there?” Durff asked. “What does he eat?”

“Distortion beasts.”

“Like the worm?”

“... Pretty much,” Alva said.

“Okay.” Durff looked around. “How do I order stuff? I would like some of his shell to make a hammer.”

“I’ll help you with that.” If she requested it, she could explain why Durff deserved to have it. She was still going to make him pay for it, though. He’d been pretty eager to go out and be active anyway, and just because they couldn’t transfer things from the upper realms to the lower realms directly didn’t mean they could just ask for whatever they wanted. Besides, they did their best to pay things back with research as much as possible. They might have an inter-realm alliance held together by people they knew, but that was even more reason to try to be fair.

-----

Crossed Antennae received a message sent with the highest priority. She was worried that somehow the Tides of the World would have shifted up by a few decades. Maybe things would even start immediately. She would act as well as she could with what she had prepared but-

The message was from her sister. It was, technically, of no importance whatsoever.

“You’re going to ride on some invader’s ships to the lower realms, right? When you get here, have someone send you to Akrys. We need to wrestle. Sorry I haven’t sent more messages but I heard you were busy and you seemed to be doing well so I didn’t want to interrupt. But you’ve got a bunch of mini-yous running things now, right? You need to tell me about them. Also, being a mother is weird.”

A complete waste of things sent on secure channels. That was why Crossed Antennae was here, and not Fearsome Mandibles.

But maybe soon they’d both be in the same place again. Next time, she wouldn’t sign up for such a long mission.

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