Theo returned to the inn bearing some food in his arms and many issues in his mind. Though he remained alert for potential retaliation or further feuds, in the morning before the sun rose, the streets of Anguedan were mostly empty. He remembered most Deuxan courts held events late into the night, and rising early was unfashionable, so he thought it was the safest time to do errands.

Unfortunately, he wasn't early enough to avoid Senka, who now trotted at his heels. "Hey. Hey. Hey, what do ya got there? Is it for Senka?"

"No." He pulled up the sack just before she managed to latch onto it, leaving her flailing in the air. "If you want us to feed you, you need to be useless less often."

"Senka can't fight a bunch of big fumpets!"

It was true, but he wasn't in the mood for nuance that morning. Theo growled low in his throat and walked faster, but despite her tiny legs she managed to keep up.

"Hey. Hey, how'd you make all the fumpets float? That was sporping neat!"

"Who are you again?"

"Senka is Senka!"

"Right. I made them float by making them float."

"Hey!" Senka tried to run after him, but as soon as they got off the street he neutralized her gravity and left her flipping awkwardly in the air. The field would wear off before she drifted too far, and by that time he could be inside their room with the door closed. Probably the windows too, and he should check for any cracks she might squeeze into.

Inside, he found Nauda sleeping, her arm positioned very carefully in its sling. Fiyu sat on the other bed with a blanket partially over her, somber but not obviously miserable. He should have known that she would be awake, given that this time of day was most pleasant for her.

"Are you alright?" He barely whispered as he handed her a piece of Deuxan bread. She took it with both hands and nibbled a little before answering.

"I am well, Theo. You do not need to protect me."

Theo carefully sat down on the bed beside her, keeping his eyes on the small sliver of the city they could see through the window. "I wish that I could do more. Perhaps we could improve your window so that sounds aren't so traumatic for you."

"The flaw wasn't in the technique." Fiyu chewed for a while before swallowing and speaking even more quietly. "I wasn't prepared for them to say such things. I would only speak that way to someone I truly hated, or during a war. If they truly use such words every day here..."

"I'm sorry to tell you, but I'm afraid your world is the odd one out. In most places I've visited, people aren't nearly so cautious with their words."

Because Fiyu simply nodded and returned to eating, he stood up and moved to an empty corner of the room to soulcraft. She seemed to be fine, she just needed more time to digest the experience. He hadn't expected it to be so traumatic for her, but he realized that the other Ichili he knew had been at least somewhat familiar with other worlds. Fiyu was being thrown into alien environments with a powerful soulhome and no social preparation whatsoever.

Though he set to work carving the walls of his torsion chamber, Theo's thoughts shifted to his core and overall soulhome design. His gravitational fields were effective, but still extremely limited compared to what he hoped to soulcraft. The problem was that gravity simply wasn't a very powerful force, not at the levels of power he could generate. No matter his skill, first tier soulcrafters couldn't create massive effects in reality.

Over time, he'd feed more sublime materials into his singularity and ascend to more intense cantae, but those weren't effective options in the short term. No, he needed to refine his basic design in a way that would ascend along with him in the future.

As he worked, he slowly came to the realization that he hadn't entirely overcome the ideas of his old soulhome blueprint. Many were relatively simple: one room for a fireball, another room for ice, one room to create a bigger fireball. But if his core concept was gravity, then it might be wrong to focus on specific techniques: he needed to create conceptual components that could be used together for other skills. They might be weaker in the short term, but when he connected those first floor rooms to the second tier, they'd create truly formidable techniques.

Thinking about his technique chambers as components entirely shifted his thinking, so he left the torsion room behind and moved to the new anti-gravity chamber. Anti-gravity... or perhaps the creation of "anti-mass". If he soulcrafted a fourth chamber that created normal mass, the combination of the two might have a stronger effect even at his first tier.

And if he did that, then he should think about his gravitational fields as enhancing or inverting gravity, while his torsion room would be manipulating its direction. Mass, anti-mass, intensity, and direction... between those four, he might actually gain a handle on an elemental force.

He'd only taken a chunk out of the soulcrafting he had to do before Nauda finally woke up. Though she gratefully accepted food from Fiyu, the look in her eyes suggested that she didn't want a leisurely breakfast. Theo finished the ridge he was working on and returned to the real world to face them.

"I know yesterday was difficult," Theo began, "but I still think remaining here is our best option for moving forward. According to my information, there are no other gates within months of travel. Nauda's gate to a hub city is still our best goal, and to get there, we need transportation."

"I don't disagree." Nauda's arm flinched as she sat forward, but she didn't let the pain reach her face. "I just want to plan better so we don't keep running into these problems."

"I can try to tell you more about Deuxan, especially now that I've learned all the local customs. But if we stay here, it's inevitable that we're going to be challenged to duels. The local court has a lot of young soulcrafters and they're eager to test themselves."

"We have 117 Silver Crowns." Fiyu raised a dark sack, having apparently gathered all the money he hadn't taken with him. "But we need over 2000 to purchase a high quality sleigh. How long would it take us to earn that much money?"

"It depends on how much work we can find," Nauda said. "The best jobs are only available to Archcrafters, even though they don't sound overly dangerous for us. If I can ascend, maybe I can take the two of you along with me."

"That would help... but we have expenses. How much is this inn?"

"It's worse than that." Theo gestured at Nauda's arm. "We'll need to pay for a healer so you can be useful, and that probably won't be the last time we need healing. In addition, we'll need sublime materials and other supplies. As I see it, we can sprint to cheap transport as quickly as possible, or build a stronger foundation and set our time schedule far back."

"I do not like this place," Fiyu offered. Nauda looked more thoughtful, then stretched her broken arm with a wince before speaking.

"I don't think there's any point hurrying into danger. No matter where we go, even Tatian, there will be people trying to use their strength against us. So I don't mind building for the long term... but I don't want to get enmeshed in the court politics here, much less end up staying here long term. I'm worried that the more we invest, the deeper we'll dig in here."

That was what Theo had been hoping, so he decided to cut in with his plan. "I propose a calculated risk. It might seem like a bit of a gamble, but by far our greatest chance for profit is the upcoming hunt, which is taking place in four months. For that time, we prepare ourselves for the hunt and future challenges as well as possible, then we acquire the money we need during the event."

Nauda frowned but didn't reject the idea out of hand. "The hunt isn't a noble event that will just get us embroiled in more conflicts?"

"It's a major cultural event, so I skipped the courts entirely and just asked the normal people. Apparently, throughout the year hunting any of the rainhorns is punishable by death, even as their population increases and they eat crops. But eventually, the court announces the Great Rainhorn Hunt, and for a short time, killing them is permissible."

"The rainhorn could see us, but it wasn't strong." Fiyu looked between them, a bit of interest in her eyes. "I think we could hunt them effectively, but would opponents stand in our way?"

"Some, without question. You see, the number and quality of antlers that each house can collect during the hunt is a major part of their prestige in the coming year, and they use the antlers for their young soulcrafters. Technically anyone can take them... but it's far more profitable for independent soulcrafters to sell the antlers to houses. They're just sublime materials to us, but the houses are buying respect. It's actually like a second layer of the competition: which houses have the connections and wealth to purchase the most."

"I'm sure the numbers work out," Nauda said carefully, "but I don't like it politically. We might be able to earn money that way, but what if the houses decide to turn on us and just steal whatever we hunted?"

"It would be a scandal, but it's not impossible. That's why I suggest we do everything we can to prepare." Theo smiled and looked between them. "Remember, everyone will be watching. At times like these, every court family will be looking to insult their rivals, not kill them. If they do make any moves, it will most likely be kidnapping opposing soulcrafters for ransom."

Nauda stared at him for a time, then finally nodded. "The risk might be worth it. But I think you need to start telling us everything we've learned, starting with these bloodprices. If those are the rules they play by, I want to know exactly how much it would cost them to kill me."

Since the system was similar to his last visit, Theo had easily memorized the new bloodprices in a mental table and now recounted them to the others. Along the way, he did his best to explain every intricacy of Deuxan society that seemed to hold true, particularly ways to cause offense and the rules of dueling. He'd thought his first lesson had been sufficient, but he'd clearly been wrong.

"This is a violent world." When at last he finished all his explanations, Fiyu spoke her conclusion with quiet confidence. "Why do they not invade Tatian?"

"Because Tatian has a bigger army." Nauda sat back and gave a smile with an unpleasant edge. "Deuxan is broken into countless factions - even this city is split into numerous families that hate each other. If one of them tried to invade through the gate, they'd face the combined forces of all nearby cities. Even if they managed to make an alliance between every family, they'd only draw down the Landguard."

"I see." Fiyu bobbed her head, receiving this information without any apparent emotion.

"They might be violent, but they waste most of their strength against themselves, and these noble families only get in the way. On Tatian, every child with talent is given a chance to reach their potential, no matter if they're in a 'noble' family or not."

Though she was right, and Tatian's armies were often underestimated by those who didn't understand them, Theo disliked self-aggrandizement for any world and decided to speak up. "But it isn't because Deuxans are foolish: both worlds are just reacting logically to their environment. Tatian has abundant sublime materials for early soulcrafters, so they can afford to be generous at the early tiers. If Tatians grew up on Deuxan, they'd create a similar system when they realized there wasn't enough to go around."

That earned a sharp glance from Nauda. "That's your wisdom, oh ancient one? You think everybody is all the same in the end?"

"Of course they're not the same. But I think those differences emerge because we're all shaped by our environments. Some things in life might be random and meaningless, but if you assume they are, you'll miss whatever patterns are there."

Fiyu looked back and forth between them, anticipating further discussion, but Nauda just shook her head. She eased her legs up onto the bed beside her and found a more comfortable position. "We can argue the philosophy later. If we're going to end up competing with those courts in the hunt, then we need to do everything we can to prepare."

"Starting with getting that arm healed so you can help us work." Theo rose to his feet, but to his surprise, Nauda shook her head.

"Spending money on a healer is a waste, especially if sublime materials will be expensive here. The broken arm won't hinder my ascension, will it?"

"No, it's about the strength of your soul. But the process isn't going to entirely heal your body, so don't expect a miraculous-"

"It doesn't matter." Nauda clenched the fist on her broken arm. "I've waited long enough. It's time to ascend to Archcrafter."