Adamant Blood 426

Mark stepped off of the hovership, onto the solid grounds at the very top of the Grand Port. Usually there were hovering crystals and a whole lot of antennas and scanning devices up here, but all of that stuff was below this temporary platform. Everything up here looked like ice walkways in the clouds and white and blue flowers on tangling, airy vines. It was quite magical, really. Greeters wearing white robes and ice-like robes stood just off of the main center that was the docking port, standing tall and serene. A choir of children sang hymns on a floating stage right over there, each of them dressed as if they were attending a church that Mark didn’t know about.

Mark didn’t know a lot about much, once he started thinking about it deeply, but he thought he knew what he was supposed to do here—

The ship ca to a stop, the side of it unfolding down, and ice grew up from the platform below, locking itself onto the hull down below, and spreading up onto the gap in the railing. The ice beca a gangplank and staircase, looking all fancy. That would be the work of the Ice Shaper standing over there to the side, head bowed, eyes on a little screen held discretely in his closed hands in front of his stomach. He was watching what he was doing without raising his eyes. The Shaper’s vector flashed through the ice, and steps appeared, each of them lightly dusted with snow and leading to the ‘clouds’ below.

A man in full-blue stood on the main ice platform, just to the side, announcing, “Tri-Talent, Kaiju Slayer, Explorer of Endless Daihoon, Deepseeker, and True Immortal, Mark Careed of Earth. Adamantine Immortal, Adamantiumkinesis, and True Union. On behalf of all of Aluatha, we welco you and yours to the Winter Ball.” He put one foot behind himself and took a sudden knee.

Every single person on the platform did the sa, and the children’s chorus hushed for a mont, as each of them took a knee, too, though one of the kids almost stumbled a little. He was nervous as fuck. A lot of the people here were nervous. So of them, like the Ice Shaper to the side, and the ‘Cloud Summoners’ down the way, sending everyone to the Traveler’s District down below, were also astrally stressed. The duty of taking in thousands of nobles was getting to so of them, though they were all truly proud to be here.

Mark Unioned with Good and Bad, hitting a few wards out there but also drilling into them, ignoring the rules that the fliers had stated earlier about massive AOE magics. Mark thrumd Good to everyone and darkness bled out of his astral body like slow, pulsing, black lightning. So people didn’t like that, but they also had a distinct flavor to their vectors that Mark had co to recognize as ‘I’mnot speaking out against him’.

Mark gave a simple nod of acknowledgent of what he was doing as he started walking down the path, feeling out a few people who were exceedingly thankful here and there, especially that Ice Shaper guy. That guy was one person among many such Ice Shapers doing the gangplank duty today, and they didn’t have a Paladin of Freyala to help them keep themselves strong, which was kinda strange, but not really. The New Pantheon might have paladins everywhere, but not here, not so much.

A lot of the nobility coming in didn’t like the New Gods.

Mark made his way down the ice path, to the Cloud Shapers on the other side of the main platform. His whole entourage followed behind; the Grand Mage Rekaro Solari and his son, Tartu Solari, with their heads firmly ahead, standing tall, while a few others had similar manners to them. Most were people like Mark, though. Sally and Isoko put on airs, trying to appear calm, but they were excited and worried. Andria was the most excited of anyone here. Even though she was a noble of Aluatha, she had been raised in Citadel Pluta on Earth for most of her life, and she firmly believed in nobles doing noble things for others, so she appreciated the looks she was getting; she knew she deserved them. While Eliot was also a noble, he was a noble of Citadel Freyala and he had deep ties to Hearthswell, so while that made him a few enemies, if anyone of the New Pantheon’s paladins were pretty much welcod everywhere, Eliot was at the top of the list.

Soon they were at the Cloud Summoners as they got to work, crafting a platform to take them down to Traveler’s District.

Addavein thought all of this was old hat, but also newly invigorating. He seed to love how people looked at his silver cloak and silver tail, and at his horns. Mark recognized that his talzarki loved physical attention perhaps more than anyone else in their party. Everyone that looked at Addavein for sure had an individual experience, from simple intrigue to surprise, to so hateful and others in full love, like they were watching a rightful ruler return. Almost all of the vectors of the platform were directed at Addavein, and though Mark suspected Addavein couldn’t feel those emotions like he could, Addavein also absolutely could.

He practically preened, and Mark found himself glad for that, and for the solidness of the cloud underfoot.

More than anything else Addavein did, his enjoynt of attention was sothing that Addashield had not done at all. That fact helped a lot when it ca to accepting Addavein as not-Addashield.

Soon, the cloud platform floated gently away from the ice platform, curving down to the crystal pyramid below. Lola and Ambassador Illiandra were glancing over the edge, looking at it all, and talking in small, professional words about the upcoming events. Rylan Drakemore and Armsmith Tulo Khava spoke of the upcoming etings with Tulo’s people, the Water People, and the Understanding Party.

Derek stepped next to Mark, to hold onto the railing and look down at the Traveler’s District with him, saying, “I’m driving the ship and the luggage to the mansion, but I’m already at the mansion they have for us, and it looks pretty secure. They call it the Green House, and it’s one of the primary houses for distinguished guests. Anything you want to check out in particular before everyone gets there?”

Mark asked, “Diagrams, Quark?”

Quark flickered so images ahead of Mark; directly into his eyes.

The Green House looked like a 4 story billionaire’s mansion sitting in a rather open yard. It also looked completely undefendable, with little balconies on second floors and windows everywhere and garden zones with low hedges… but at least it had good sightlines from the upper floors. That was just the publicly-accessible information, though—

“The Green House?” Addavein said/asked, his tone sowhat pleased but not truly happy. He told Mark, “It’s a secondary house, but still one of the central ones. The central ones have nas; the secondary ones have colors.”

Quark brought up a diagram of the organization of it all in the air beside Addavein.

Mark glanced at the diagrams, his gaze traveling further and further to the side, to parts of the landscape beyond the houses, saying, “I’m just glad we’re not in the apartnts, right?”

Addavein scoffed. “They’d never put us in there. It’s where the low nobility goes. The rchants and the people who enact the decisions of the housed people…” He humd. He added, “Those apartnts are actually one of the funner places to be and most people go to them for the after parties, but the main houses are… Ehhh! It’s fine— Oh! Is the Silver House available— No. Never mind. It’s probably not, and it looks like we’re getting a personal welco right now.”

Mark glanced downward and Quark’s imagery vanished.

Several great glass panels of the pyramidal Traveler’s District were slid down, inside of the structure, revealing a duck pond that was frozen over for winter. That duck pond and the glittering trees and the frozen benches ford the welcoming zone and the target of the cloud transport. Further behind that space lay a terminal dressed up with not-Christmas architecture, but there were still ‘christmas’ gifts and candies and whatever, and also large ice sculptures. All of it was oversized and decorative.

The clouds would have set Mark and his team down onto the pond, and then let them walk into the rest of it.

But Second Princess Walaria Aluatha stood beside the frozen duck pond, looking 19, though she was more like 100, Mark guessed. Her prismatic white dress fluffed around her body, while red accents, like blood frozen into jewelry, adorned her neck and gloved hands. Her bright red hair was done up in a wedding-like style, with icicles for pins and more rubies dangling on the pointy edges of those ice spikes. It was exceedingly fancy, and full of ssaging; she was dangerous, beautiful, and powerful.

If her ‘armor’ weren’t enough to clue in the average person, actually-armored white-armored guards stood to the side, three of them at attention and one standing in front of those other three, looking a bit more in charge than the others.

All were deferential to Walaria, though.

Mark had no idea how long she had been there, but it couldn’t have been long. So people were still stuck by the terminal, by the tellers that were going to clear the people for entrance into the district. So people were even carrying their luggage with them, instead of having it transported to the destination separately.

The cloud conveyance alighted upon the frozen pond and then vanished out from underfoot like so much disturbed fog.

Walaria was 4 ters away, her red eyes staring into Mark’s eyes—

Addavein quietly told Mark, “Knee.”

Mark hit his cue, he supposed, stepping forward and taking a knee on the ice, saying, “Greetings, Second Princess Walaria Aluatha. Master.”

She was his master in Mage Society, after all.

Everyone else behind Mark took a knee, too, or they curtsied.

“Rise. Apprentice Mark and Addavein. Walk with . Derek as well.”

Behind them, Rekaro told the suddenly-nervous Sally and Isoko and the others that they would go through normal customs, while Mark stood up, nodded to his team to let them know it was alright, and then he followed Walaria off of the frozen duck pond to the open avenue beside the intake stations.

Everyone bowed toward Walaria, until she passed, and then they stood up and resud doing whatever they were doing, most of which, at the current mont, was gawking at Mark, or Addavein. Little kids asked their parents ‘who are those people?’ while the parents answered too quietly to be understood over the subtle instruntal music in the air. They didn’t want to make themselves known to the Second Princess of Aluatha, probably because it was dangerous to be known by Empire, unless you stood before them for good reasons.

Walaria led Mark and them down a wide thoroughfare, full of shops of various kinds, with pairs of guards in white armor standing in front of every shop door, standing between the people they had herded into those shops to clear the path for Walaria. Addavein and Derek fell in behind Mark, while Walaria’s lead guard in white stood to the side, flanking them at a small distance—

“Are you sleeping better these days?” Walaria asked Mark, walking almost beside him.

Mark caught up to walk beside her, noticing she was very slightly shorter than him, as he said, “I’m sleeping better than I was on the trip to Endless Daihoon, worse than I was a week ago, before Nobody Important showed up and threw his weight around.”

“He was a rather disruptive influence, but not as disruptive as he could have been. He is not actually on the side of Okuana, according to all of our intel, but your postulation in the news that he contacted Okuana —and specifically Dominant— to attempt to understand the current events of Daihoon was rather prescient. They have had contact at least once that we know of, though that ‘knowing’ is based on inference of disruptions surrounding a few events, and one event in particular. One eting left in a hurry, involving many people, with no reason given for the interruption later, when the participants returned.

“We know for a fact that he was seen at the Northern Crossing, looking at the Crossing with what might have been wonder, or concern; no one is quite sure what he thought about the fact that the Northern Crossing exists, but our empaths tell us it was a confusion emotion for him. He was also witnessed on the far side of the moon.” Walaria added, “Just his eye, and mostly hidden. In all instances, just his eye. We are guessing that it is hard for him to co closer to Daihoon than that, but apparently he can appear wherever he wants without too much trouble. So we’re glad you have chosen to abandon the Reset Quest. It will make our own overtures to him easier.”

That was a lot.

Mark gathered what he could, digested it over several footsteps with the sound of Walaria’s jewelry clinking and their shoes tapping on the stone white floor, then he asked, “Were there any indications that he was going to co to the settlent?”

“When he was spotted we sent out kaiju warnings to everyone, and I absolutely included Aurora in that mo. It’s a basic function of the governance of Aluatha to track all kaiju, and Nobody Important was no exception. He was listed as priority ‘High Dragon’.”

“… oh, yeah. I suppose so.” Whatever bit of suspicion or worry that Aluatha had known that Nobody Important was coming for them, and yet they had done nothing, sorta bled away. Mark added, “It was not fun eting him the second ti. I didn’t expect… any of that from him.”

“He was a low-priority dangerwarning for us based on sightings, and your own interaction with him in Endless Daihoon, so we classified him as a high-priority diplomaticcase. You were able to reestablish this designation when he summoned those molten titans by simply asking him to stand down. It's still a sha that he felt the need to do that. We’re still working on a psychological profile, but right now we’re classifying him as a High Dragon. We are not sure if he would appreciate that designation, or be violent about it.”

Mark frowned. “High Dragons gotta High Dragon, huh.”

Walaria nodded once.

The path she walked, and which Mark matched, flowed down the interior of the arcology of Traveler’s District, like an angled road laid down on the inside of a pyramid, almost-spiraling to a grand courtyard down below. Fountains and a food court surrounded that 500-ish square ter space, while anchor stores with big designs and bigger nas frad out that welcoming space. Mark had never interacted with any of those big box stores, though he knew about ‘Robot’s’, which was a United Sapients’ store, and one of the larger ones down there.

Winter designs were everywhere, and so were the people, though the guards kept everyone out of Walaria’s procession.

The people nearby still heard most of what she was saying, though, and so of them were surprised in a weird sort of way to hear what she was saying. Others were less surprised by her open talk of Nobody Important, and more interested in Addavein walking behind Walaria.

Mark wondered, for a mont, exactly how good Walaria was at this whole ‘politics’ thing. It seed she was playing every side at the sa ti, because of course she was. She was the Second Princess.

She knew Mark was going to co in asking big questions, no matter who was around them, because that’s who he was. So she made sure that there were witnesses, so that he could ask those questions, and get information out there. The capital was always full of wheelers and dealers, so it wasn’t a big deal to talk about empire security, especially when it ca to kaiju, and ‘High Dragons’, and people needed to know what was happening out here at the highest levels of governance.

Maybe Mark should ask about Forbidden Magic right now… but no. Addavein and Rekaro had managed to convince him not to… Did Walaria know about that? She probably did.

Addavein was right behind them, too, and that was a whole Big Thing. He was a High Dragon, but he was firmly on Mark’s side right now, and both Walaria and Mark knew it, so Mark felt okay walking wherever they were walking, because ‘deciding to walk with the princess’ was absolutely a test. Would Mark do it, or not?

Everything was a test. Everything was graded.

In that sa vein, Derek was right here, too, and he was probably answering a lot of frantic questions from Isoko, Lola, and Sally right now, while Eliot was probably tapped into the security systems and viewing from afar.

A lot of people were viewing from afar, Mark suspected, because the capital was the capital, and this was the Winter Ball, which ant the whole world was watching. Isoko had specifically told Mark that she wanted to go to the White Carpet Gala, so that they could be seen by the Two Worlds, to get back into the spotlight that the Hero/Villain Program was denying them with their ‘we’re blackballing you but not blackballing you’ thing happening right now… which Mark honestly didn’t pay much attention to, since there had been other issues that felt a lot more important to him, like the Reset Quest.

But the Reset Quest was on hold right now.

And Mark was at the center of governance for the entire Aluatha Empire, so... it was ti to wheel and deal and see what Mark could make of himself and the world around him.

Mark said, “Thank you for the invite to the Winter Ball, Walaria.”

“You have been rather busy, and that will not change, but perhaps you will find an opportunity to narrow the scope of your desires in similarly beneficial ways as the Reset Quest would have offered.”

Mark smirked, both because of the idea that anything could ever be as good for the world as the Reset Quest, and because Walaria’s words were not just for him, but for Aluatha in general. People had phones and recording devices, after all, and the center of the Traveler’s District at the Winter Ball was not an exception to this universal standard.

… Once again, Mark wondered if this would have been a good ti to speak of the desire for Forbidden Magics, specifically the kind that would get other people to co to him, but it might make Walaria look bad, and Mark wanted her as the ally she attempted to be. She was his ‘master’ in Mage Society, after all, and Mage Society had the biggest rules against Forbidden Magics.

So Mark responded, “As you know, I’ve been figuring out how to move Bindings around. I would love to have so help with understanding more of that, if you have contacts in that direction.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

There.

Simple. No ‘Forbidden Magic’ ntioned at all.

“I have been reviewing the information you have granted Empire, and we do have contacts for you, Mark, but I would prefer you to learn magic in the order I gave you to study. I thought you wanted Swords of Empire?”

“I still do,” Mark said, “But the goal of it was always to help kill kaiju and otherwise, and weapons are useless without the people to wield them.”

“I fully agree, Mark, but you underestimate what a true Sword of Empire can do. I will have to order an exhibition match for the Winter Ball.”

She had offered him a backtrack, and Mark was really interested in seeing that exhibition match…

Mark plowed ahead, “People are more important than things, so I suppose I’m deepening my commitnt to Aluatha in order to create stronger forces to fight against unknown threats. Anyone can hold a sword, and swords can be used against you. I want people, good people, to hold the line.”

Walaria glanced at Mark as they walked, her eyes seeming to shine red, like her hair, like her glittering ruby jewelry. And then she looked forward, saying, “You’re the Inheritor of Xerkona. Of course you would have to actually go and claim your Empire Xerkona from the Wilds of deep Sheorune for that Inheritor title to matter, but I am sure it will happen eventually. So, the question now becos one of what sorts of commitnts you can actually make, and keep. From the position of Empire, there is only so much commitnt you can give us. Masters and students are epheral things in such a wide situation. So are words written on paper. Therefore, the only way for you to deepen any commitnt to Aluatha, in exchange for deeper understandings of deeper magics and otherwise, is through the traditional alliances of houses.”

Mark felt a weird sort of depth yawning before him, as they walked, feet clinking on the stone, the audience seeming to be so very, very distant. It was just Mark and Walaria in a spotlight in the world. No one else mattered except what was being said right now.

Walaria asked, “Have you considered marriage? And children? Those are the traditional way to secure houses and bases of power, and indeed, a singular person without any of those backings is considered a man alone, and n alone are not stable enough to truly be trusted with power. That is why only lawfully married individuals with children are recognized as nobles in Aluatha. We have made allowances for your personal power, Mark, but those allowances will only get you so far in Mage Society and in Empire.”

“Ahhh… I do rember Aurora talking about that a while ago,” Mark said, mind feeling blank, stalling for ti—

“Sothing to keep in mind,” Walaria said, letting Mark off of the hook, as she turned left, toward an archway between so shops.

Mark’s mind whirled with possibilities as they walked in silence. Who wanted to think about sex and family and then kids? Would his wife want more sex for more kids? Mark could do it, he was sure, but… No. No no. Go away thoughts.

… The arcology was a bunch of shops of very many kinds, from books to food to luggage and more on the inside. The pathway Walaria took them down had a sign overhead that promised ‘MORE SHOPS OUTSIDE!’ in several languages, and then they nad those shops outside. Mark barely caught word of what he was reading as they passed by a small wine shop and a store that sold magical trinkets and promised artificers that could make even more, if the custor had special orders.

And then they were in the sun, walking on the exterior slope of the pyramid, beside green spaces and under the glass exterior far overhead. The massive triangular panes were held together by white-painted steel poles that connected back to the arcology itself, and Mark wondered at the stresses in the architecture, because architecture was a lot nicer to think about that than about making family decisions, because Walaria was going to set him up with soone, wasn’t she—

“I will not accept an arranged marriage,” Mark said.

“Of course not. You’re an Inheritor. You’ll have to make the choices yourself. But I will be parading a few hopefuls in front of you at a few different events. I expect numbers to be exchanged and talks to be had in private. Nothing more, nothing less. Feel free to say ‘no’ to them, but you will be seeing them before you say ‘no’.”

“… uhh… How many?”

“Three. They all know each other, too.”

“... Uh…”

Guards held back crowds up ahead, keeping them from spilling out into the sun, into this walkway on the exterior of the arcology.

Walaria took a left, into an open-air coffee shop.

While Mark’s brain took a second to move on from arranged dates, to get into whatever was happening now, Quark rapidly spun into overdrive for a few reasons, helpfully identifying that the guards back there as different from Walaria’s, and more as a mix of different units, because the person sitting at the coffee table, enjoying a hot beverage in his nice white suit, had different guards, of course. The whites of their guard outfits were different, with different flourishes on their shoulderpads. Because First Prince Doomo Aluatha sat here, drinking from a paper coffee cup.

Red hair, red eyes, skin as white as Mark’s, weirdly enough, but he had small fangs.

Sohow, Mark’s mind scattered to forum posts he had seen about himself, where people were analyzing the image of him smiling for a picture, talking about his own teeth, and how his incisors were also larger than normal incisors. ‘It has to be his draconic heritage’, they agreed. Talking about Mark’s teeth was a whole Thing that so people really enjoyed.

Mark knew what Doomo looked like before now, but for so reason that conversation online about his own teeth made him wonder what the fuck was up with the Aluathan royal line, because Doomo really did look like he had fangs. Walaria had ‘fangs’, too, to hear Eliot talk about her, yet Mark was pretty sure those were normal teeth in her mouth, just as Mark had normal teeth in his mouth, too.

Addavein absolutely had fangs, though, and he showed them off as he decided that now was the perfect ti to step forward, tail absolutely still, saying, “Sending Mark tips on speeches is not enough to forgive the assassination attempts, so I hope you have more goods in the barrel.”

Doomo stood up, and he was easily the tallest person in the room, his stance assured, his eyes charismatic, his voice like warm honey offered by a friend alongside the best tea you ever tasted, as he said, “Of course I have more in the barrel, Addavein. Mark was a problem to be solved, but now he’s the solution to many more issues, including many of the problems with Okuana.” He looked at Mark and easily asked, “And I do so hope those tips on public speaking have helped.”

Mark’s mouth worked before his brain, as he said, “It’s Charismatic Body or sothing, isn’t it?”

Addavein snorted, tail still very still. Derek tensed.

Walaria humd.

“Not a Skiller yet, but still great at identifying Skills,” Doomo said, grinning slightly. “That’ll go well with your new direction.”

“Aren’t mind-affecting Skills frowned upon in high society?” Mark asked, and then he needled, “I’m pretty sure I read that law a while ago.”

“Of course!” Doomo said, “But I’m not exactly in charge around here, so it doesn’t apply. I am, ever-always, a diplomat, and if you knew anything about how governnts really worked then you would realize that we put those laws upon society ourselves, so that the use of social Skills is both kept under control and kept under ourcontrol. For those like myself, who swim in all social situations, we have our own set of cultural norms. One of those norms, and why this whole eting is taking place here and now, is because we need to know if this—” He indicated himself and Mark. “—is going to be a problem.”

Mark did have a problem with Doomo, but familiarity through missives had dulled his hate. Sure, the guy had tried to assassinate him at least twice, sacrificed a whole squad of soldiers at a post, destroyed a lot of trust in the International Teleporter List for Kaiju Response, and worked with goblins to do it… Okay. There was Mark’s anger again. That anger reminded him of sothing Lola had said a while ago, back when they were still in Endless Daihoon and figuring all of this stuff out.

Addavein, Derek, Walaria, and the guards all around, looked on, wondering what was going to happen next.

Mark could already tell that if he tried shit, that it would end poorly. The degree of ‘poorly’ would vary. Unsurprisingly, Walaria would throw in with her brother, as would all of the guards. Derek would escape, of course. Oh sure, he might try to help, but he’d be dead within the blink of a red, imperial eye.

Addavein, surprisingly, was on Mark’s side, though he would be reluctant about it and try to play peacemaker, if he could.

Mark found himself surprised regarding Addavein’s reaction. He was happy that Addavein was going to be there for him, mad that Addavein wouldn’t finish the job with him, and reluctantly agreeing with Addavein that killing the First Prince and alienating himself from Mage Society through warring with Walaria… All bad! Nothing good could co of a fight right now! Or possibly ever.

In the second second of looking at Doomo and understanding the vectors all around him, Mark marveled at just how deep the rabbit hole went, with regard to understanding vectors and purposes. According to his vector, either Doomo was satisfied that Mark was actually thinking through violence and arriving at ‘not right now’, or maybe Doomo was controlling his vectors directly to make himself appear to be happy with Mark and maybe his true emotions were still underneath his ‘Charismatic Body’… No. Not Charismatic Body; that was just a guess on Mark’s part.

Mark had seen this before, though at a much lesser level.

“It’s a Knack, taken to an extre. A Knowing of People,” Mark said, knowing he had hit the mark a lot better on his second guess. It was the sa Power his uncle Gabriel had, back in mphi, though Mark doubted Doomo had that specific Skill. Mark added, “You never actually show your real Skills to anyone.”

“Even closer to the truth that ti,” Doomo said, red eyes easily focused, “But you are wrong in one specific way. I do show my Skills to others, though my witnesses are rather hard to co by, unlike for yourself.”

Ah.

A threat.

Okay.

Sure.

“Here’s a warning for you, too,” Mark easily said, voice light but solid, “Threaten in public or in private, ever again, and I will take your head. I might heal you, though. I’ll see how I feel in the mont.”

“Excellent!” Doomo easily said to Walaria, “You have a fine apprentice.” He said to Mark, “Nice to finally et you in person.” He said to Addavein, “We’ll have to get together soti and figure out your place in society. Kaiju response, and those sorts of issues.”

“How about later tonight, at the Green Garden?” Addavein suggested. “After the Welcoming and the Virgin Social.”

“Splendid. See you there!” And then Doomo picked up his paper-cup coffee and walked off, flicking open his phone with his other hand and speaking to soone else, saying, “Hello again, Ambassador Purpleroot! Apologies for the interruption… Yes, I’m in talks with them right now and I will be bringing up those copyright-infringing flowers at tonight’s party.”

Mark startled. Tartu’s plants? He was talking about Tartu’s plants, wasn’t he. The mana crystal plants they had gotten from Kabberjaw. Ambassador Purpleroot was so fucker from Okuana, wasn’t he—

Doomo glanced backward at Mark, grinning, showing fangs as he moved beyond the corner of the coffee shop, down past guards.

“… I am tempted to go after him, rip that phone out of his hands, and tell ‘Ambassador Purpleroot’ to try it,” Mark muttered.

“You will get plenty of opportunities for that,” Walaria said, “But don’t take anyone’s heads off after the Witches’ Welco.”

Mark didn’t know what that was, but Addavein did.

Addavein easily said, “Mark won’t die if he loses his head, so he still could.”

Walaria told both of them, “I would prefer that to not happen. It makes the job of staying out of war that much harder, and we’re not ready for war yet, Mark.”

Mark inford her, “If you need soone to be intractable against Doomo, then I’ll happily do that.”

“You an Okuana,” Addavein said.

“Them too.”

Walaria dismissed all of that, put on a better face and vector, and gestured to the side, saying, “The tram to Domal’Takela is one of the nicer events of the Winter Ball. Shall we?”

They got to walking.

Within a single minute, and past one turn on the edge of the pyramidal exterior of the Traveler’s District, they arrived at a tram station. It was busy, but the whole tram station was also paused for Walaria’s arrival.

Walaria spotted so angry n and won in feathered outfits with gemstones on their foreheads. She said to Mark, “I’ll be moving along with the representatives of South Point, but I will answer the phone if you call.” She said to Addavein, “Addavein.”

Addavein nodded.

Mark supposed… he nodded, too, saying, “Thank you for the invite, Walaria.”

Walaria said, “I’ve wanted to take Doomo’s head several tens of tis over the years, but he is more useful alive than dead. If you want to get things done, making connections with any noble house at all, you could try interacting with his staff instead of with him. Interior Officer Rembrant is quite useful.”

“Thank you for the recomndation,” Mark said. “I will make a note of that na.”

Quark did exactly that, and then Quark brought up a list of nas to the side from an email from Doomo saying pretty much the sa thing as Walaria. Mark mostly took notice of the email’s tistamp, which was about 30 seconds ago. It seed Doomo had had that email ready to go, or maybe an AI of his had composed the email in the last minute.

Mark, Addavein, and Derek bowed.

Walaria was already off to the next event, her guard captain and soldiers leaving Mark, Addavein, and Derek behind.

The feather-wearing people walked with Walaria as she got on the tram, while the lead guy, wearing a big erald on his forehead, seed to let her have it, but in a diplomatic way. His face seed quite red. She weathered whatever the man hissed at her, speaking in small words, and then the tram doors closed.

Walaria’s white-armored soldiers began to pull away from the crowds, letting normal operations resu.

Isoko, Sally, Eliot, Lola, everyone, were to the side, and they started moving the mont the guards stepped away. Derek said sothing quick about having told everyone everything—

Tartu moved faster, saying, “Okuana is not getting my crystal flowers!”

Mark strongly said, “I’m right there with you, Tartu. Okuana can try and take them and I’ll kill them all.”

Tartu wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it was not that. He said, “Maybe just… lawyers?”

Sally was absolutely ready to throw down, saying, “Fuck the lawyers. They’ll have to co through all of us.”

Addavein chuckled, and said, “Indeed!” And then he gestured to the trams, asking, “We have our tickets?”

They had the tickets, and soon, Mark was on the tram.