"So, tell me more about the Path," I murmured to Coatli.

"No need to whisper." He flashed me a smile. "Lava Monitors don't hear particularly well. Just don't make any sudden movements."

We hadn't actually gotten much conversation done on the trek back to the peak. Despite following the trail he had cut through the forest, it had been a hot and tiring trek. He also hadn't adapted to the changes in his body immediately, and so we spent most of the walk simply doing our best to keep up a decent pace over rough terrain. Now we were standing just inside the edge of the jungle below the caldera, waiting beside what he assured me was a game trail.

We both wanted more for supper than fruit.

"The Path, though…" He frowned. "When you marked the dagger, what did you acquire?"

"I believe the Voice said I 'revealed the quality of Growth'."

"Growth…" He mused for a moment. "That could be potent."

"But what does it mean?"

"It is a characteristic of you, and by extension, a characteristic of your domain." His fingers tapped pensively on the hilt of his jagged club. "My understanding is somewhat limited, to be honest. But here's what gleaned, working for Cuauhli. For each piece of regalia you acquire, some aspect of yourself will be enhanced and made concrete, incorporated into your domain. The strength of that is decided both by what the aspect is, and how deeply it is a part of you. When Cuauhli held the dagger, it was Glass, which he claimed suited him well, as some of his most prized possessions were obsidian. He could shape it directly, and do stranger things."

"So Growth will let me… what? Grow huge muscles?" I turned the dagger over in my hands, inspecting it.

"Perhaps." He shrugged. "We will have to see. Maybe it will make your monsters age more quickly, or be larger when you create them. Maybe all of that and more, or even odder effects, depending on what Growth means to you. Suffice to say, using it properly will take study."

"And how do I use it?" I had already scanned my status screens, and hadn't found anything new.

"You will need a token." He raised one hand, making a ring with his thumb and forefinger. "They are about so big, inscribed with a symbol of some sort. Once you have one, they can be crushed to activate their power. I don't know how they're made, though."

"Well, it's a start."

"They can also be used to empower your monsters." He looked into the distance. "I was given tokens for Glass, Sky, and Divinity, which is what changed my shape. I lost their powers when you claimed the dagger, which is why I have returned to this form." He gestured to his body. "And since my previous size was mostly from growing in that body, I also lost much of the pneuma I had gathered." He shrugged. "Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained."

"True." I mused over that. The Voice hadn't said anything about tokens, but it was never particularly forthcoming. "Mmm. Can I ask you something that's a bit… personal, maybe?"

"Of course. Although I won't promise to answer."

"Fair enough." I mulled it over for a moment, and then asked: "Can you tell me how Cuauhli died?"

"Hah." He sighed, but smiled. "I loved Cuauhli, Edmon, but I've had six hundred years to come to terms with his death. The sharp edges have long been polished from my memories. Yes. I meant to tell you this anyways." He paused, rubbing his chin and looking into space for long moments.

"The regalia," he said, "are incredibly valuable."

I nodded.

"But," he raised a finger, "As valuable as they may be as weapons or artifacts, they are vastly more valuable for their aspects. Not every hugely magical thing is a regalia, and not every regalia is hugely magical. To Lords of the Land, however, each piece gathered is another step on the Path."

"They— we fight." My voice was a little hollow.

"No. We fight." He pointed to himself. "Lords do not fight, except in the direst of circumstances, because to do so is to risk their Heart."

"But.." I touched my pocket, where the gem lay.

"He was betrayed." Coatli's smile was bitter. "At the end, only I stood beside him. And it was a very, very near thing. But that, I will not tell you about. "

We sat in silence a moment.

"At least, not today. But yes, Lords do command their creatures to fight. Both against each other, and against the world."

"The world?" I furrowed my eyebrows at that.

"Anyone who wants to challenge a domain is welcome to." He pointed to the dagger. "That represents Growth. Growth represents you. You claim the land, and prove your qualities to the world. That means the other Lords, but it also means, well, the whole world. If you lose, your quality diminishes. If you win, your quality strengthens."

"Hmm." I rubbed my jaw. "I think I've done that before, actually."

"Oh?" His eyebrows rose.

"Yeah. Some, oh, must have been eight years ago, when I was desperate to make my mark on the world, I spearheaded an expedition into what we called a 'dungeon'. I'm pretty sure now, looking back, that it was a domain."

"Yes, exactly like that." Coatli nodded. "You went in, you fought, you gathered spoils and pneuma, you returned victorious."

"So… the Lord's aspect diminished?"

"Not necessarily." He shook his head. "I don't know what the aspect you were testing was. For example, if you went up against a monster with the aspect of Sky, say… a cloud raptor. If you tried to defeat it with fire, and failed, the aspect would show its dominance against Fire. If you then tried to shoot it down, and succeeded, the dominance of Piercing might be shown, which would then weaken it— but perhaps not as much as triumphing against Fire would strengthen it. If you fought it with Glass, which is kin to Earth, and thus opposes Sky, even if you killed it, it might show dominance for putting up a hard-fought battle."

"That's sounds… unnecessarily complicated." I frowned.

"Don't worry over it too much." He waved the idea away. "In general, a hard-fought battle will reward your aspects, win or lose, so don't worry too much about killing challengers. It's is generally a bad idea anyways, because then they don't come back."

"I always wondered about that," I said. "The dungeon always seemed to have something new to throw at us, but it never outright crushed us. Sure, people died, but there were more survivors than not. And the difficulty increased in fairly measurable steps— along with the spoils."

"Of course." He nodded. "Pneuma and materials are a small enough favor for the chance to strengthen your qualities."

"…I'll take your word for it." I glanced down at the glass dagger tucked into my belt. I'd have to figure out what these attributes even did before I'd put too much weight on them.

"Fair enough." He shrugged. "Between Lords, however, things progress rather differently. Not just the strength of the attributes, but the artifacts themselves can be won or lost."

"You said Cuauhli had seized Ensnare, right?"

"Right. He mostly avoided fighting other Lords, but apparently some challenges can't be declined."

"…That's worrying."

Coatli gave a bitter smile. "Unfortunately, I don't know the details of that, so…"

"Eh." I shrugged. "We'll have to tread carefully."

"Indeed. As long— Ah!" His head snapped around, looking towards the volcano. "Later. Here comes supper."

I raised my pistol and both of us went stock-still as something moved through the trees.

Abstract worries could wait until after I'd had a hot meal.