***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

My next meeting with Etan came right in the morning, not even twenty-four hours after we had brought the poaching problem to his attention.

I peeked into his office, which had the door standing open. Either he had been waiting for me, or he was one of those 'open door' kind of office-guys – though I didn't take him to be the type.

“Hi!” I waved a hand in greeting. “Mary told me you want to see me.”

In turn, Etan looked at me as if I was an imbecile. “Come in and close the door.”

Right from the start?

Seriously, what had I done now? Too informal? It looked like he was determined to dislike me for some reason. I just couldn't get him to warm up to me.

Sighing, I did as told and took the seat across from him like a good little peon. After all, the Frosts were still my best chance to influence the clan as a whole. I couldn’t afford to burn my bridges with Etan.

“My people investigated the poaching matter and found a ring of eight individuals who sold out our hunting schedules,” Etan explained. “Thankfully, it wasn't one of the hunting supervisors, or they would’ve been able to mess with the setup of the schedules. The traitors had a guard who copied the new schedule during her nightshifts. Which is why your unannounced trip surprised them.”

“That was fast,” I commented, almost unable to believe how quickly the investigation had gone down. Had Etan's men swooped in and apprehended everyone with access to the roster before searching their belongings? Guilty until proven otherwise?

Well, I had to remind myself that this society didn’t operate like Earth's.

But… maybe things weren’t so dissimilar. Wasn't my reason for being here not an issue of men in black swooping in and abducting people?

Etan leaned back in his chair. “I may not control the whole clan, but at least within the twelfth, people jump when I tell them to. For now, we've made sure the traitors will do as told.”

“You've... allowed them to stay on their posts?” I asked, a little perplexed. “How can you be sure you got them all? Or that they won't blow the whistle?”

Etan raised an eyebrow. “I won't deny the possibility of someone escaping our investigation exists... but it is extremely unlikely. We have our ways to ensure their cooperation. Additionally, my people made sure not to alert possible spies when they took in the suspects. At least for now, the investigation didn't reveal anything which indicates the sold information was used to kill our hunters. Unless that changes I am willing to let the Patels' poaching slide to gain some more time. For now, we've turned the traitors into double agents. If we take them off their duties, the Patels will know their game is over. As long as they don't suspect anything, we can choose to feed them misinformation.”

For some reason, I didn’t want to ask how Etan’s people had ensured the traitors’ cooperation.

I spread my fingers, signalling I didn't dare to question his subordinates' competence. “Okay, if you have the means to ensure this, then there is nothing to be said against such a course of action.”

My father in law nodded. “Your job will be easy. Find a way to use the Patels' betrayal against them. Preferably in a way that allows us to turn the vote in our favour. You have two weeks to prove yourself.”

Two weeks? Talk about an impossible task!

I pursed my lips. Etan had already forewarned me of his intentions, but this development still came a little fast.

“Which resources do I have access to?” I finally asked.

“You can do anything you want within the twelfth strata,” Etan explained. “If it concerns matters outside, then you have to ask me first.”

Did he intend to ‘let me off the leash’ and play with all of his strata’s resources? Surely, there would be someone watching my every move.

“Then I need a guide who can show me around the third,” I answered quickly. “Oh, and could I have Winston join me?”

It was the first time I managed to befuddle Etan. My in-law's expression turned confused and he blinked. “Winston? Mary's guard? Why do you want him of all people?”

“Because I already managed to build some rapport with the man,” I replied, slipping into my 'earnest' persona.

My real reason, because Winston was an incredible prude and I just loved winding him up, went undiscovered.

“Fine. Whatever...” Etan waved a hand, shooing me out of his office. “You can ask Mary if you want to see the investigation's report.”

I got up and politely excused myself.

Dragging Winston through the clan's rough underbelly would be so much fun!

Once I had left Etan, I went directly to Mary's office and politely requested all the documents concerning my task. I would have to read through everything in the evening because today was reserved for getting to know the third.

Yesterday's drive-by was far from enough to allow me to see the whole picture.

With that done, I also informed Mary of my sister's educational deficits and wrangled a promise out of the old crone to double down on Iv's scientific education.

I had nothing against people who chose to focus their expertise on something less... practical. I had veered towards astrophysics after I got my degree, which was far from useful aside from getting a badly paid job at the university. But by God, everyone should know at least the basics!

Once I was done with Mary, I returned to our quarters and shared my father-given quest with Astra.

“No problem!” Astra concluded once I finished my explanation of what had gone down with her father. “Give me half an hour to take a shower and we will be ready to go.”

“Actually, I want to go alone,” I interceded before Astra could get herself too worked up.

Already halfway across the living room, she froze and locked eyes with me. “What!? But we do everything together! Is it because of that stupid buoyancy thing? Because I totally knew! Your explanation just... confused me. I would have said it in much simpler words! I am not going to sit down next to your sister and take lessons again!”

I was a little taken aback by her vehement reaction, but after thinking about it for a moment, I realized I might have hit a sore spot. Also, we had indeed been joined at the hips in the most literal sense of the expression ever since we ‘partnered’ up.

“Sorry, Astra, I just need to see the third's situation without a filter over my eyes,” I explained.

“Filter? I am a filter?” Astra fussed, suddenly turning emotional.

I winced. Today, everything I said seemed to be taken in the wrong way. First Etan and now Astra. Were we about to have our first fight?

It was just one of those days.

“Look. This is nothing against you, love. Just listen before you judge me.” I raised my hands in a pacifying gesture. “I didn't mean to say you are an inconvenience, but your father's task requires some social engineering. For that, I need to know what the people who work for the third think. How they feel about things. I have to find out what they desire and what they abhor. If you want to bring down political leaders like the Patels, you don't do it by attacking them directly. We need to find out what the Patels are giving to their people and take it away. Then their power will wane automatically.”

Astra raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Her expression made it clear she was still offended about being left behind, so I quickly continued.

“I would love to take you with me, but I don't think people will react normally when they see the twelfth’s princess at my side.” I reached out and dared to tug at one of her filaments which were drifting close-by.

In public at least, Astra drew in all of her filaments and disguised them as clothing. When at home and believing herself alone or just with me, she had the things questing around all over the place like separate entities. Thankfully, I had already gotten used to it.

I understood the urge to do so, even if my filaments weren’t long enough yet. They had reached a length of about a metre, which was enough to form an underwear skin suit. As soon as I stopped paying attention, they would unweave and explore my surroundings, like a blind man feeling his way through the dark.

Astra quickly drew in her filaments and made all of them into a multi-layered gown, then crossed her arms triumphantly in front of her.

I coughed, not believing this would work. “I know you can do that. You would still stand out in a crowd. There’s no way for people not to recognize your strata’s trademark mutation.”

She looked down at herself and frowned in displeasure, realizing she looked like an exotic princess.

Her clothes dimmed and shifted after Astra’s expression turned into one of extreme concentration. She did her best to create a more casual look but just couldn’t pull it off. The filaments always had this glittering, black sheen, even if dimmed to their lowest setting.

All it did was to make her look like some dominatrix in a seriously expensive leather outfit made out of countless strips woven together. No matter Astra’s expertise in controlling her filaments, she couldn’t change the material she had to work with – which were a myriad of silken bands, each looking like an incredibly expensive material.

It was like someone trying to weave a normal working suit out of golden threads. No matter the style or practicality of the artistry, or lack thereof, everyone passing by would be able to tell it was gold.

I could still hide mine by wearing clothes over them, but Astra would look like an Eskimo if she tried the same.

“Gah!” Astra threw up her hands. “I can cut them off! If there are fewer, I can pull some other clothes over them as you do.”

I blinked. “Astra, I know you can’t be serious about cutting them off. Haven’t you’ve been trying to grow them out so you can fly again?”

“I just…” She bit her lower lip, then jumped into my arms and hugged me. Moments later, I found myself wrapped in a tight cocoon of filaments. “I can’t let you run around on the third and lose you! It’s dangerous there. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to stay sane if something happens to you.”

I chuckled and squeezed her back. “Don’t worry. I’ve requested a guide from your father and I am sure he won’t let me stumble around unsupervised, despite saying so. I get how you feel. It wasn’t a problem while I didn’t think about it, but now that you pointed it out, I also feel antsy about leaving you for more than a few hours.”

It wasn’t a lie. Having her close made me so much more relaxed. The one time I explored the central living cavern without her, I couldn't wait to have her back at my side.

“Maybe it's one of those instinct things?” I asked.

Astra sighed and nodded. “Maybe, though it certainly wouldn’t come from the treemonae. They are very stoic and patient creatures.”

They must be. I certainly wouldn’t be able to stay in place for months and wait for something edible to jump into my arms.

“Well, not having you next to me doesn’t mean I don’t have an important task for you,” I continued. “While I check out what can be done about the third, you could try to find a way to get us access to the ‘thing’ we were talking about.”

“Oh, the ‘thing’.” Astra nodded. “I think I can do that.”

“And once I get back, I’ll make sure to report every little detail back to you,” I assured her. “Then you can give me your feedback on the various plans I managed to cook up.”

It took half an hour before I managed to convince Astra to let me go. Though it was nice to be hugged by her. She was just so huggable.

Ahem, nonetheless, I finally got back on track and take a trip to the third, accompanied by Winston and two more guards. We were dressed in unflattering work clothes which allowed us to mingle with the third’s average citizen.

To my guards, it must’ve felt like I had taken them on a drinking tour through the worst bars the third had to offer, combined with a sightseeing trip and idle chit chat as I tried to engage random passersby in conversations.

Despite making myself look like a fool, I learned a lot that day.

The third’s average citizen was a hard-working, if not very educated or law-abiding person. There was a general sentiment of diggers having to look out for themselves in a world of exploitation by other stratas.

I spent a lot of time listening to the people who held speeches in the streets and found them to be a part of the Patel’s propaganda machine. They spouted different slogans, but the core message was the same wherever I went. Stick to your strata and trust in the Patels to see to your best interests.

It took some time, but I eventually realized the difference in how the Patels ran their strata compared to the others. Or at least why there were signs of discontent everywhere I looked.

The graffiti and badly maintained public areas weren't there without reason.

The third sucked up the… undesirables was probably too strong of an expression. Let’s call them outcasts who didn’t play well with the rest of the clan. Every society had those kinds of people, and the Patels had given them a place to come together.

The news of a possible war had made it out of the council’s halls and was a big topic on the streets, and the propaganda messengers didn’t like it all, pointing out all the ways it would likely make life harder for the poor.

Only, the third’s people weren’t really poor. They were well off compared to those who scratched together a living in the Old Camp.

I didn’t even disagree with the public reluctance against war. Most wars in human history had been fought on the average person’s back while the old and wise leaders hid behind their population. As I saw it, the only reason why humanity had never fought a serious nuclear war was because the people who called for war knew they would have ended up in the crossfire.

But sending countless young men and women to fight for law and order on the other side of the world? No problem, as long as it brought in cash.

Four days passed in my quest for understanding.

I visited the public bars which served the average miner Jack after a hard day of excavating the mountain’s riches. Good people who sought nought but to make an honest living from day to day. People who didn’t care much for war one way or another, but would be very disappointed if change made their lives harder.

A stroll in the better living areas allowed me to meet the third’s middle class, best represented by a certain Marlene Pierre, a better-off woman who always bought her starfish from the same vendor. She had hit it big when she bought the mining rights for a dead-end tunnel and found an almost pure iron ore vein, ensuring her pension.

Her disposition towards war was indifferent. Not because she was a bad person, but more so a pragmatic one. War would see a lot of people killed, which was bad, but it also always increased the prices of the necessary resources to make war, like her iron.

My favourite people from the third’s higher society were Krystian and Mikayla Bonner, a paired couple who ran a refinery for the strata’s ore before it was shipped off to the other stratas, or directly sold to other clans via the fourteenth’s trading hub.

They were absolutely against war, mainly because their leaders, the Patels, were against war, and they should know what was best. Since they were the elders...

Talking to them just gave me that feeling of conversing with this good-natured, if a little naive elderly couple that was totally on board with their political party’s agenda. Mainly because said political party ensured they would keep their haven in the world.

Sometimes, there was nothing to be said against a good dose of blind trust. At least as long as everything didn’t come crashing down.

Each night, I returned to the mansion and shared my insights with my wife and listened to her advice.

In the evenings and early mornings, I studied what Etan’s people managed to gather from our traitors and Ginevra, the poacher we caught.

It was on the sixth day when things got a little awkward.

I had just managed to convince my guards, including Winston, to pay a visit to one of the third’s less savoury areas, when we were suddenly surrounded by what I could only call a group of thugs.

Particularly well-equipped thugs.

“The boss wants to see you,” the lead thug intoned.

The line was so cliché, I couldn’t help but lean over to Winston who was standing next to me. “I knew he would say that. No matter which planet, the grunts always come up with the same line.”

My guardians winced collectively and Winston leaned away from me. “You know, it’s never a good thing to be taken in by the Patels? We should walk away.”

The thug raised a metal warhammer large enough to brain a changeling broodmother with one hand. A normal human wouldn’t have been able to swing it with both arms. “I wasn’t asking.”

I blinked, feigning my unawareness of our situation while I made sure to speak loud enough so everyone in the vicinity would hear. “Why? We haven’t done anything illegal. I’ve explicitly asked about it. And everyone knows where we are. I bet the council would leave no stone untouched if an elder’s family member went missing in another strata. That would be very bad publicity. I am sure Bruce and Travis Patel just want a nice chat?”

It helped that these people generally had good hearing. Vocalizing myself like this ensured there would be at least a few dozen witnesses.

The thug smiled and gestured politely down a side tunnel. “I am sure they just want to get to know the nosy person. After you.”

Before my companions could say something, I followed the thug’s invitation.

Back at the organisation, one of my old teacher’s mottos was, no risk, no fun.