Gabriel stood nervously in the Emperor’s study, pacing up and down the length of the windowed wall. It had already been several minutes since he’d put in his request to speak to the man, but there hadn’t been any updated yet. When he saw instead that Seth was trying to reach him, he supposed he probably had enough time.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  “MR. GABRIEL YOU’RE GONNA BE AN EIDOLON!?” The teen screeched quietly, “How did you even-!?” He paused, eyes narrowing as he tried to understand what he was looking at, “…What’s with your uniform?” His tone came down three octaves as he stared at the mediator’s image in confusion.

  Gabriel just shrugged, “Part of the package, I guess. Xanarken all-but jumped me with it the other day.” He started, and looked out at the Aegis; the mist had cleared as afternoon dwindled to evening, and the crystal-clear blue sky began to darken. The sun glowed with yellow, orange, then pink as it approached the horizon, and distant cliffs that surrounded the massive lake looked like black embroidery, reflected into the water, “Feels kinda weird, to be honest.”

  “No kidding! I think Lord Rylen just did the same thing to me…”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, Lugios.”

  “Ah, shit, Seth, I gotta go. I’ll call you back.” Gabriel panicked, and quickly closed the call as the Emperor stepped into the room, “Your Majesty, I-“

  “You want a drink?” The Elder asked, and gestured over at one of the man-servants stationed at a doors to a cabinet-bar, “I feel like you probably need it more than I do.”

  “Normally I would decline but I think you’re right this time.” Gabriel agreed, “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

  Iresha nodded with approval, and the servant took a wordless gesture and got to work. He then pointed at the two chairs by a sprawling fireplace, “Don’t stand on ceremony. There will be plenty of time for that later. What’d you want me for? Nervous before the announcement?”

  “I am, but…no, it’s something else entirely. I wouldn’t waste your time with a plea for moral support. I’m sure we both have better things to do.” Gabriel answered, and stepped around the back of the nearest chair. He sat back into it and bent forward to rest his elbows on his knees, “…I’ve been trying to figure out in what order to give you this information because I don’t know what would make it better. This could go sideways really quickly if I’m not careful.”

  “Out with it.” Iresha commanded, “Just give the headline and parse the rest after.”

  “I was approached by a man that you probably hate, with a message in service to a man you’ve loved since you were a kid.” Gabriel answered simply, “Where to go from there?”

  Iresha’s brow crinkled, “…Start with the latter.”

  “Duke Mardu wants sanctuary in Sargon.”

  That made the Emperor stand up all over again. He spotted the servant coming around with their drinks though, and stayed quiet until they were set down on the circular table-top between the two chairs. He then dismissed the servant outright, “Close all the doors. Everyone out.”

  “Your Majesty.”

  Gabriel lifted his head and looked past the chair’s back-rest as the chamber was sealed, but then looked back at Iresha.

  The older man stared into the fire with a mixture of concern and – oddly – annoyance, “He hasn’t spoken to me in more than two years.” He commented, a hint of hurt on his voice, “The Duchy has been extremely perturbed by my choices, to say the least. They cut off communications like a disgruntled teenaged ex.”

  “My partner and I faced that wrath directly not too long ago.” Gabriel agreed, “I’m surprised they didn’t flay us and hang us from the front of Regulus’ machina. Or…at least, me.”

  “Ah, so it was him.” Iresha said grimly, and stepped back just far enough to lift his glass from the table-top, “That…bloody fanatic. He and Far’nah were two peas in a pod, right from the start of her rule. We all hoped that when Mardu and Far’nah got engaged, it would mean things might settle down, but he’s such a meek and timid creature…no one was surprised when things started heating up after her coronation.”

  “I’ve been told that he has some rather disquieting news from Kitez, but he’ll only tell you himself, face-to-face.” Gabriel added, and turned to find his own drink as well. Within was a spherical ice-block, floating in a deep amber liquid, “I couldn’t hazard a guess what he knows though.”

  “Maybe if you tell me who brought the message, I can shed some light.” Iresha suggested, and drained half the liquor in one swig.

  “Latheroux d’Arras.”

  The Emperor coughed and his eyes watered, “Latheroux d’Arras!? That treasonous-“

  Gabriel looked on helplessly, “I wish it was literally anyone else, but…yes.”

  “I thought he was dead!?”

  “…So did we.”

  “What could that wretched ghost possibly have to say that would benefit Mardu!?” He snarled, the side of his fist bumping against his chest as the alcohol-sting at the back of his sinuses gradually faded, “He would’ve been first in line to help Far’nah put a stake in our hearts, yet he’s in-league with a man who wants to flee before the ship teeters in tepid weather?”

  “It is a bit of a backwards flip… He tried to make it seem like he and I were like-minded, somehow. This man who started a riot over Sargon’s permittance of the Council to come into the country…now saying he’s on the same side as that same Council.” Gabriel supposed, meek as the idea was, “The best I can assume is that he’s applying the enemy of my enemy is my friend to the situation. I’m just not sure who he actually thinks the enemy is. Can’t be Sargon, since he’s willing to help get Mardu here..”

  “I can’t give him sanctuary.” Iresha finished his drink, and set the glass down with a loud tap, “Mardu is flighty. If he won’t give his ill-chosen messenger a shred of information about what this urgent, alarming news is, then I can only dismiss it as more hang-wringing and pearl-clutching from a man who’s scared of his own shadow.”

  “You think he’s making a mountain out of a mole-hill?”

  “It’s a bad look.” He dismissed with a head-shake, “It’s just too much of a risk. Even with the Council’s support, it would be crazy for me to bring Mardu here, and risk destabilizing my very angry neighbor. If we follow-through on my earlier analogy, Kitez seems the type to throw a brick through my window out of some...misguided belief that they’d been unjustly provoked.”

  “I don’t disagree…”

  “What was he even thinking?” Iresha all-but stomped towards the windows, “The day my son’s eyes lit-up, I had to make a decision about how things were going to work. I had to choose between my successor – the future of Sargon – and a very distant cousin.”

  “It was an emergency.” Gabriel finished, “I remember how bad it was when we got here. I know how much worse it could’ve been if things had gone differently. No one envies the wall you were backed-up against.”

  “It was no small task to get my son back under control. The affliction is surprisingly rare in Sargon…we had no one to call on when it suddenly manifested on our doorstep. No one we could trust to get close to the palace, at any rate. We all knew what had to be done, but…Rani was the only one with the courage to say it out loud.” Iresha commented, his voice quieter as his thoughts went back to that terrible day. Flashes of intense flame roared through his mind – screams from both afflicted and assaulted mingled together in a cacophony of rage and confusion. A quarter of the palace had been ingulfed in flames by the time help had arrived, and the imagery of it – video of that billowing smoke rising off the cliff from the vantage of citizens in the city below – was as memorable as the heat itself. Iresha shook his head.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Gabriel lifted his head, and the spherical ice in his glass rattled against the sides as it tilted in his grip. He thought back on the same event; he could feel the fire licking at his skin as well in that moment as he had back then. He could practically see the maelstrom that had surrounded the Prince as he looked into the fireplace, “There wasn’t even any nanotech in Sargon at the time.” He said quietly, “And my little skiff normally doesn’t have permission to fly at supersonic speed. But that day, it did.”

  “You took him out over the water after that, as I recall.” The Elder noted, and started to come back to his seat, “While the rest of us were being looked-after by the services, and we watched this building fall to the flames.”

  “I also remember getting in a lot of trouble over that.” Gabriel puffed a laugh, “Something about attempted kidnapping. Who can even tell anymore, after so long?”

  “Well, you didn’t have to take him out so far.” The Emperor noted, “But when I found out later that you just wanted him out of sight of the fire, it made a lot of sense. Let my son literally cool his heels in the lake, and come back when everything’s been put out.”

  “He’s unlike any other kind of afflicted kid I’ve ever seen or met.” The mediator added, “The pressure of being the perfect heir, and watching his father’s legacy go up in the literal flames of his own making. Knowing the way you came into your throne; he was terrified he’d played his own part in removing you from it.”

  “…And that’s exactly why I can’t bring Mardu here.”

  Gabriel quirked a brow, but then gave an understanding nod, “They’d just see it as a second betrayal.”

  “More than that.” Iresha corrected, “It only began with accepting the Council’s help. Then it was letting the World Cloud in, keeping the Fourth as long-term council, sending my son away to attend one of your schools…” The Elder shook his head in disbelief, “Three years ago, suggesting even one of those things would’ve been tantamount to treason. But it’s one thing entirely for me to make controversial decisions within my own Empire. It’s another entirely to involve theirs, too.”

  Gabriel slid his thumbs across the rim of his glass, then finally set it back onto the table beside himself, “What if I told you they had your brother?” were words he desperately wanted to say, but the sound wouldn’t come out past his lips. Instead, he drew in a sharp breath, and pushed up to stand, “There would be some merit to bringing him here, if it came to that.”

  “How so?”

  “It’ll give Far’nah the freedom to finally do whatever it is she intends to do, and we could nip it in the bud, once and for all.”

  Iresha lifted a brow, “That sounds like something Lord Rylen would want.”

  “It is. Very much so.” Gabriel agreed easily, “But maybe, as Xanarken would say, we’ve reached big stick negotiations time. Far’nah’s been itching for a fight with the Council since the day she ascended to her family’s throne. If Mardu is here, safe, with you, then at least there would be leadership left behind to pick up the pieces once we’ve dealt with her.”

  “You’re talking about overthrowing a government.” Iresha said darkly, “Maybe Mardu truly has been the only thing stopping her this whole time. He could continue to do so. We should offer him support, not an exit strategy.”

  “It’s not overthrowing if she pulls the trigger herself.”

  “It sounds an awful lot like entrapment.”

  “Latheroux was rather adamant that this information be brought to you today.” Gabriel countered, “Whatever clock is ticking over there – be it alarmist hooey or something truly cataclysmic – we’re likely to find out fairly soon. I just want to make sure that you know, you have the Council’s full support, whatever it turns out to be.”

  The Emperor stared for a moment, unsure if he was grateful or condemning. His eyes turned away then, “You’ll be an unfortunately effective Eidolon, Lugios. Thank you for bringing me this information. You can go now.”

  “…Your Majesty.” He bowed his head and turned to leave. He waited until he was a good distance away from the study – on a whole other floor, and heading outside – before he dialed Seth back. The teen didn’t even have a chance to offer a greeting before Gabriel got going, “What the Hell were you talking about!?”

  Seth would’ve been bowled-over if he wasn’t already sitting down; he’d found his way to the Aegis’ on-board clinic by then, and was waiting in the lobby, “Lord Rylen’s fault! It was his idea!”

  “Obviously! What’d he tell you!?”

  “He wants me to be his protégé. He even mentioned the Second whole Wing being leaderless, like it was on the radar for me to take over eventually.” The teen explained fanatically, trying to keep his voice down in case someone nearby could hear him, “I…I was too excited by the idea of having an out from the Inquisitor division that I accepted without thinking it through… But since I’ve had a minute to mull it over, it kinda scares me even more? But for entirely different reasons. He just brought it up so suddenly. I was completely blindsided.”

  Gabriel stared at the doors that led to the docking terrace, and deadpanned slightly, “I’ll say. Did he mention the words Vice Eidolon to you?”

  “No… He actually said more like…it was a special rank, but not exactly like the High Negotiator spot Lord Xanarken made for you before.”

  “Ah…I see what he’s doing.” He said as he started stepping forward again. As he got close, one of the guards outside turned and reached to pull the door open, and he stepped out onto the long path that followed along the cliff-side. He gave the ledge a wide berth, and hugged the far right side as he made his way down towards the Aegis’ docking bridges, “He’s creating a place of privilege without authority; making concessions to Xanarken without actually giving him what he wants. Clever…”

  “People keep saying stuff around me like I’m supposed to know what’s going on already...” Seth complained quietly, “But I don’t. I only know what the public knows, or what I can see with my own eyes.”

  “Ah…right, sorry. Let me come tell you all about it. If Rylen’s putting a party-hat on you, you ought to know some stuff. Are you on the Aegis? Your backdrop looks like it.”

  Seth sat up a bit higher, and he nodded, “Y-yeah…Lord Rylen wants me to get my implants done soon, so I’m at the clinic trying to convince them I’m not making it up.” He explained, looking over at the receptionist, who in turn just shrugged like it was out of her hands, “Maybe I should’ve waited until after the announcement. No one will talk to me unless my brother confirms, but he’s deployed right now, and can’t be reached…so, I’m stuck here waiting, in case someone answers.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “…You will?”

  “Sure. I’ve always found it particularly helpful to have an Eidolon or two in my pocket.” Gabriel huffed a quiet laugh, “Mine isn’t answering my calls right now though, and yours won’t take calls from anyone less than a Captain’s rank, so…I’m the next best thing.”

  .

  The meeting was only an hour away, and Furion made his way to the nearest SkyFortress. That turned out to be a Sixth Wing ship, the Guardian, Captained by an old friend of the Aegis. The docking-bay doors opened, and Furion found an imposing older woman there waiting for him with a small entourage of other officers. He landed and quickly pulled his helmet off, “Captain Greenseer, good to see you.”

  “Captain Rydell.” She answered – the entourage saluted behind her - and she reached forward to offer a greeting handshake to the fully-armored Fafnir. With a firm grasp, she gave a wry smile, “It’s our pleasure to host you for the night. You can dock your armor in one of our skiff-bays.”

  He made his way off to the side with a grateful nod, and parked close to one of the walls, hoping to keep out of the way; his armor’s small size would make it easy to overlook by the larger skiffs that came and went. Peeling out of it after being aloft most of the way was like breaking out of a cocoon, and everything felt like it stuck to his skin. With a quick gesture though, a fully nanotech replica of his regular uniform manifested over his flight-suit, and he turned back to join his fellow Captain as she gestured into the Guardian proper, pulling the skull-cap off the back of his head as he went.

  “Do you know what this meeting is about?” The commanding woman wondered, keeping pace beside her counterpart, “This is all rather abrupt.”

  “I do, but I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say. Whether and how much Lord Xanarken explains is entirely up to him.” Furion answered, tugging on the cuffs of his gloves for a better fit, “I can only say it’s to do with Sir Gabriel Lugios.”

  “Ah…of course. That again.” She shook her head, “The Fourth Wing sure does enjoy toying with authority.”

  He spoke in a quieter tone then, “It’s not toying this time, Scarlet.”

  She gaped at him, and answered in kind, “So the pictures that have come out aren’t grandstanding?”

  “No, that was Lord Xanarken’s idea. Sir Gabriel dislikes it quite a bit.”

  Scarlet found that somewhat funny, “Captain Rydell, what are you saying? You’ve spoken to him?”

  Furion reached up with one hand to fluff-up his hair a little, feeling it matted behind his head from spending all day under the cap of his flight-suit, “He’s been stuck on my ship for a little while. Hard not to get to know him a little.”

  “Didn’t you lose one of your Commanders to him recently?”

  He gave an odd glance, “You make it sound like he killed her. No, nothing so severe… Dame Ren Nibasai was put under his supervision for a few months, but she’s back with us again, hence why he’s been aboard. Once my ship has escorted Prince Iresha to the capitol, I believe Sir Gabriel will be stepping off. He’ll…have more pressing duties by then, I imagine.”

  “Such as?”

  “We’re all about to find out.”