-----

”….and I’m here to represent the Heavenly Host and the Imperial Family. My name is Tethrine Asuryan, a prince of House Asuryan, and the current Emissary to one of the nearby planes.” The princeling introduced himself with flowery language, listing his titles to lend his words more credence.

Ysendra wasn’t really interested in the pompous immortal. Why the princeling was even leading this delegation was a mystery. Yes, he was a prince, but there was a goddess present as well. Granted, that goddess wasn’t especially powerful, but she was still counted as a True God with a fully matured Divinity. And then there was the person Ysendra was really paying attention to. Her old friend, still hiding among the mortals of the delegation. This would be fun.

The princeling just glazed over the goddess, as if he didn’t even recognize her, which seemed odd. What kind of stupid delegation didn’t even introduce themselves to each other properly? The other immortals were inconsequential, as they were just grunts of the Host. Powerful, yes, but nothing a group of her guards couldn’t handle. It also seemed like the princeling and the goddess both seemed confused by her appearance.

It was one of Ysendra’s habits to make people underestimate her, to have one of her strongest guards keep her in their lap as if she was a pet. They’d assume the guard was the real leader, which they could’ve been in any other situation considering their rank and power, and they’d disregard her. It was also a test of sorts. Only someone with great senses could get even a hint of how strong she truly was when she was acting like this. Thus, acting like this was a test of skill and perception. It also helped with the fact that few people could take a tiny dragon like her seriously. Fairy Dragons also had something of a reputation for being lunatics. Wholly undeserved of course.

The princeling was finally getting to the real point. “…and these are the mortal representatives of a world nearest to us, which we’re using as a base currently, and one that falls within your sphere of influence.”

“Karma, my darling!” Ysendra suddenly hopped on the table and allowed her tail to wag all over in happiness. She was tired of listening to the boring princeling. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to show up!”

Ysendra could feel the heavy sigh and the resignation oozing off her old friend as Karna pulled her hood back. Exactly the reaction she was looking for. “Ysendra. You could’ve come to me, you know?”

“And where’s the fun in that? Besides, you’ve told me before that you don’t want me to disturb your life unless necessary.” She was really skirting the edges of what she could say with non-reincarnators present. She would need to get Karma alone soon so they could talk properly.

"You obviously want something from me. Otherwise, you wouldn't be hanging around nearby." Karma responded, before finally turning towards the princeling that had been goggling at her as soon as her hood had gone down.

“Cousin Ynnead. It seems you had me, and everyone fooled.” The princeling stated.

‘Oh, this is getting interesting.’ Ysendra grinned mentally. “Cousin? Wouldn’t that make you royalty as well, Karma?”

“In a way. It’s irrelevant at the moment.” Karma dismissed the topic.

“I disagree. It’s quite relevant and changes quite a few things.” The princeling argued.

“Does it though?” Karma asked in an inscrutable voice. “This is not the time or the place. You’re in the middle of a negotiation and want to start hashing things out with your own group? Somewhat unprofessional, wouldn’t you say?” She reprimanded the prince rightly, though Ysendra gathered that her old friend’s identity was a rather important detail.

She decided to throw her friend a bit of help. “She’s not wrong. What brings you here? I don’t like my time wasted, especially since I’ll be sure to have a reunion with my old friend here as soon as this meeting is over. I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

"Right." The princeling seemed to realize his faux pas. "We're here to negotiate an arrangement for the areas that currently fall within your sphere of influence. We've negotiated similar deals with other recent arrivals such as yourself. There's no need for hostilities between us, especially since the Scourges are a problem for all of us."

"Problem for you perhaps. We've been dealing with them just fine. They've already learned that approaching us is a bad idea. Still, I'm not opposed to some kind of arrangement, as long as I find the terms acceptable." Ysendra had a rough idea of what the Host wanted. She'd need some compensation if the Host wanted her to take care of this area. "Hey, Karma. I don't suppose you've run into a pair of Nakshatra in a huge city-ship?”

“Should I have?” Karma asked, a little wary.

“They had a magical problem and I gave them a few options regarding people who would be able to help. You were at the top of that list. I suppose they didn’t go for you first though. Ironically, this little accident that brought us here might have caused me to find you before them.” Ysendra mused.

“Two Nakshatra? Coming here?” The princeling asked, now very worried.

“Maybe.” She shrugged, which she knew looked kind of comical with her tiny draconic body. “Depends. So you haven’t seen them?”

"Can't say I have," Karma confirmed.

“Shame. Look, we need to have a proper conversation, and the presence of all these people doesn’t help.” She turned towards the princeling. “Prince Whateveryan, I’m going to have to ask you to wait for your turn and come back later. Our negotiations hinge on what I’ll discuss with my friend here anyway, so if you’ll excuse me.” Her tone of voice made it clear that she wasn’t asking, and her purposeful snub of the prince’s name obviously incensed the man. As it had been meant to. At least he managed to control that annoyance.

“In that case, I shall return later.” He said stiffly, before leading the others away. He might not appreciate being sidelined, but he wasn’t silly enough to argue with a person of unknown level of power and resources over something so petty.

As soon as the others had made their decidedly less than hasty exit, Ysendra got a fair bit more serious. “How have you been, really? It’s been ages since we’ve last seen each other.” Only the guard that had held Ysendra in their lap stuck around, and they were keeping quiet and to themselves.

"You know me. I manage. There have been good lives since the last time we met, and there have been less fun ones. Less of the latter lately just because of how hard it has apparently been to find my soul an appropriate vessel. It's a bit tough to live a normal life as a dragon that can eat stars." Her old friend shrugged a bit.

“What do stars taste like?” Ysendra threw in an inane question. She knew Karma wouldn’t be too annoyed as they’d known each other for eons.

“Kind of light and the texture is non-existent.” Karma snarked back.

“Fair enough.” Ysendra chuckled. “Do you know what’s going on in this universe? I’ve always known this place was odd when it came to the number of reincarnators and a few other things, but lately it seems this place is even more crazy. The number of reincarnators I’ve run into is way off the norm, and some of them have been old monsters like…well, I was going to say like you, but no one is quite like you. Then there’s the whole thing with the Crossroads being forced here.”

“I’m not entirely sure. I know the reincarnator thing is building up to some sort of crescendo. The Head Judge of the River of Souls all but forced me to come here, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just for the reason he provided. Reincarnators are being gathered for a purpose, but I don’t know what that purpose is just yet. I expect something will happen when the current Heavenly Emperor abdicates the throne, but that’s mostly speculation on how such things usually tend to work. As for the Crossroads…well, this universe has gone through Expansions before, countless times at that. This one was different than those before, and I expect that has something to do with what’s going on with the reincarnators. Beyond that…” She left the rest unsaid.

“Sounds reasonable.” Ysendra couldn’t really argue with that. Karma had also not been in this life long enough to gather enough information, so the amount of uncertainty was understandable. “Can you help me to gather up the pieces of the Crossroads and bring them back out of this universe?”

“Hmm.” Karma tapped her chin with a finger while she considered how to go about what Ysendra had asked. “I could probably devise a spell that would help you locate the major parts of the Crossroads in this universe, but I don’t have the power to cast the spell myself. Since it would have to be able to reach across planes, the sheer amount of power required is staggering. This universe is still a rather big place, even if it’s not quite as expansive as some other old universes. You’d have to handle gathering the pieces yourself. I definitely don’t have enough power to transport even this chunk of the Crossroads, not to mention all the pieces you manage to gather. Even if I could devise a way to do it, and I probably could with some trial and error, I don’t have even close to enough power to begin testing any of the theories out.” Something neither of them bothered voicing was the fact that if anyone could do it, it would be Karma.

“I don’t expect you to manage it now. That said, the longer we wait, the more troublesome things get as everyone that had gathered within the Crossroads will make a new home here.” Ysendra easily conceded.

“Well if you want me to help you in the future, you’re going to have to help me reach that future. You know my lives tend to be on the shorter side, and you just effectively outed me to one of the Princes of the Royal Family. Which I was trying to hide from, for your information.” Karma expressed her displeasure, though Ysendra knew much of it was faked.

“Oh, boo-hoo. We both know that while many of your lives tend to be short, that only really applies to the lives you spend as a mortal. You’ve already left that idea behind in this life. You stand out. There’s no way around that. Hiding just isn't what you do. And let's not pretend you didn't come here for that very reason. You knew you were going to get outed and wanted my protection." Ysendra laughed at her friend's displeased face.

"Fair enough, but I would've been much more careful about it instead of just blurting out one of my most commonly used True Name in mixed company. You're as subtle as a brick to the face, as usual." Karma countered. “Besides, I’ll be much more helpful to you if I’m not tied down by divine politics.”

“At least I didn’t use one of your nastier Names. Look, we’ve already practically reached a deal, and now we're just arguing blame and detail. I'll sweeten the deal and throw in an incentive. I'll convince Envy to make a couple more pillows for you, as well as releasing Fluffy McSoftenstein from the current imprisonment and into your care." Ysendra sweetened the pot a bit while at the same time revealing just how familiar she was with the events of the earlier tournament.

“Deal.” Karma agreed without hesitation. Just like Ysendra knew she would. It was useful to know the weaknesses of the one you were negotiating with.

“Do you have any estimation about how long you’ll need to grow in strength enough to not need me? It’s going to be a problem if I try to follow you into the Divine Planes. Not that the Host would be able to stop me, mind you, but it would still lead to the level of hostilities that would defeat the entire purpose of this deal.” Ysendra wanted to set clear terms on the deal.

“Hard to say exactly. A few decades at worst. Ten-ish years at best. My foundations are perfect, so I can afford to push things along a bit now, but I don’t want to rush too much. You know how that’ll end.” Karma was a bit vague about the time, but it was still within tolerable limits.

“I’m aware of your obsession with perfect foundations, yes. I also know that if you really wanted to, you could make yourself immortal within a year. I’ll help protect you, but my patience is not unlimited. Just keep that in mind.” Ysendra had gotten the deal she wanted. So had Karma apparently. Win-win deals were always so much fun.

-----

“So. The princess is the reason you’re here.” Narmada heard a voice ask rhetorically. She’d sensed Tethrine approaching, so she was not surprised by the sudden words.

“Perhaps.” She replied non-committaly. No need to confirm things, even if it was fairly obvious.

“I’m guessing something happened that I’m not yet aware of, which revealed her presence here. I wonder…I once met with the Grand Medjai’s daughter, and the person I met was not Princess Ynnead. They managed to fool me quite successfully. I wonder how they pulled it off?” The prince seemed to be mostly talking to himself. Maybe he was fishing for a reaction. In any case, he didn’t expect an answer and Narmada wasn’t going to provide him one.

“It does make you think though. What else did she manage to fool me and others on? Marius claimed to have met her. Was that fake as well? I don’t really blame her all things considered, but this will come back to haunt her. I doubt Kurnous or others in my family will take this as lightly.” He continued to vocalize his speculation. This time Narmada did interject a small comment.

"That is of course up to you, but I would remind you that our host seems quite familiar with the princess. And you're trying to make a deal with our host. I doubt that deal will be very successful if you go after her friend. Not to mention, any hostile action might end up with you on the losing side." Narmada was a bit worried about someone picking a fight with a Nakshatra, so she wasn't just giving out advice from the goodness of her heart.

“I’ll have to get further instructions. I was given this mission, but it wasn’t given to me by my family, and I wonder which would take precedence in their mind if I had to choose between making this deal happen and retrieving my cousin.” The prince wasn’t quite making a threat, but he wasn’t far from it either.

“I doubt defying a direct order from the Host would go well, even if your family would be all for it. And you’re still assuming you can retrieve her. If you are correct about her fooling you earlier, then it stands to reason she isn’t willing to go with you. And her new friend might feel inclined to protect her. You would not win that fight.” Narmada reminded him.

“Alone, no I wouldn’t. With help…well, things might go a little different.” Tethrine argued.

“And what help would you be referring to? I doubt the Host will jump in to help you, considering this whole idea is you defying their orders. I’m certainly not going to go against orders to help you. I suspect your father isn’t going to personally come here either. I’m not sure it would be enough even if he did.” Narmada wasn’t sure how serious the prince was, but this was a bad idea, and she didn’t want anything to do with it if the prince decided to pick a fight with a Nakshatra.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. At the very least these negotiations have gained a new dimension. On that note, was it just me, or did the princess and our host seem like old friends? As in the type of friends that have known each other for a while. Rather interesting, isn’t it?” The prince suspected that they were friends from a previous life, but couldn’t voice his suspicion in the current company.

"Some people are just friendlier than others," Narmada said dismissively. She'd noted that fact too but wasn't going to admit it. How could the princess be old friends with someone who hadn't even been in this universe for that long?

“I’m going to make a report. Certain people will find recent developments quite interesting.” The prince suddenly declared before walking off.

“Things have become complicated, have they not?” One of the gold armored immortals working as her bodyguard whispered.

“In some ways, yes. Have you managed to get an estimate on our host’s allies?” She asked in return.

“Not really. This place is enormous and apparently shielded against most types of scans. I can tell you that there are many immortals here, and they are powerful. I wouldn’t want this to turn into a fight.” The immortal stated.

“Agreed. We must conclude that this group of Outsiders matches one of the Scourges when it comes to the total level of power. And this is just a portion of all the Outsiders, even if a rather large portion. They’re going to be a major player in the future. And the princess has a connection with them. Which means that she might be able to borrow some of that power for her own benefit.” That was a thought worth considering.