Salira pushed a strand of her hair behind her ears and glanced at me. She looked like she wanted to say something. I leaned back against my seat, a jagged earthen pillar I had raised as part of our practice, and waited.

“A part of me wishes you could stay longer,” she finally said.

“Me too,” I admitted. “But I don’t have time to waste. The war might be turning, but it’s still in a precarious position, and I don’t want to be gone from the Sky Continent for too long.”

She nodded. “I understand completely, Sister. I’ve heard your people are using yet another new technological development to beat the Zarian back?”

I smiled, letting some of my pride show. “Yes. New weapons. They’re not much by themselves, not yet, but every edge counts.”

Salira regarded me thoughtfully, but didn’t ask further questions. She probably felt this was veering close what countries would keep as national secrets.

“Regardless, I enjoyed our time together, and I can already tell that I profited a lot from it,” she said.

I nodded. I’d snatched what time with her I could, while I was currently waiting for everything to be prepared for my departure. I’d already said goodbye to the rest of her family and the Imperial functionaries, even.

Neither of us had talked of politics or ambitions, but we understood each other anyway. I’d been providing her guidance and help to advance her cultivation. Even with all of her ambition and the support she might gather, being a swiftly advancing, strong cultivator was essential if she wanted to rise. She knew I wasn’t helping her purely out of the goodness of my heart, of course, but she recognized that I made no demands on her. I do hope she will become queen of Terbekteri, though. Is it wrong of me that I’m not supporting Kajare more strongly in that regard, but that I am helping her? I frowned to myself. Well, there’s still a lot of time for things to develop and change.

Political alliance aside, I still genuinely liked her, and I felt confident that it was the same for her.

We both stood and exchanged a slightly awkward hug before we made our final goodbyes and I started walking away. An airship would be taking me and the retinue I was bringing on this trip down to the coast, from where we’d board a ship to reach Adzur.

Terki had offered me the use of a Terbekteri ship. Even though I knew it would probably be quicker, I’d declined. I’d feel better in Imperial hands. Besides, Adzur was proud of its navy, rightfully so, and I’d rather avoid the possibility that, for all I knew, arriving on a Terbekteri speedboat might stir competitive feelings.

At least Kajare and Salira would get to spend some time together. We’d decided that he wouldn’t be coming with, so he’d stay here for a while before making his own way back to the Sky Continent. The same went for Tenira. Yarani was accompanying me, though, and Lei had asked to come, as well. I wasn’t surprised by that, especially considering Adzur’s reputation for technology or how getting some of their knowledge was one of my goals.

Tenira greeted me with a smile when I finally arrived at the landing pad. “They’re still loading the last of your supplies, but you should be good to go in a minute.”

“Good. You’re not going to stay here for long, either, are you?”

She shook her head. “The whole point of us splitting up is that I’ll be on site for the development teams, to oversee all of our projects and to make sure their implementation works out. It would be counterproductive for me to linger here too long. I’m going to have to deal with enough political nonsense as it is.” She paused and gave me a considering look. “You and Kiyanu are still good with each other, aren’t you?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”

“Well, he did make a different decision on the Velisha than what you said.”

I snorted. “I guess. It’s not like I had a real plan or anything. The only thing he really did was to ensure that the Velisha don’t see it as a forceful takeover, or at least not as much, so we we’ll have to worry less about their fighters in our army. I can see the sense in that.”

According to his plan, the oldest of of Varis’ younger children, a twelve-year-old boy, was going to be be king of the Velisha. Kiyanu was still sending an Imperial governor, who’d be acting as regent for him.

“You said it was also a risk,” she pointed out.

“It is,” I confirmed, and shrugged. “I’ll trust Kiyanu that they can handle it even if Varis junior is going to be out for revenge. If he’s any less of an idiot than his father, he’ll take what happened as a warning that we’re too strong to rebel against, and that it wouldn’t end well.”

Or so I hoped. I also suspected that Kiyanu’s people would systematically curtail the king’s authority so that even after he reached the age of majority, he wouldn’t be able to start an all-out rebellion. At least, if he did want revenge. They’d be telling him our side of the story, and trying to gently shape his attitude regarding what happened. I found the whole thing a bit distasteful, but if it would help to prevent further conflict or a forceful crackdown on the Velisha, it was still the best option.

Aston appeared beside us, giving a quick bow. “My lady, everything is ready for departure. You only need to come aboard.”

I nodded at him, then turned back to Tenira. He discreetly withdrew back into the airship while I pulled my girlfriend into a hug and gave her a lingering kiss.

“I’ll miss you,” I said.

“Same,” she replied. “Take care of yourself, Nari. And keep an eye on Lei.”

We exchanged another quick kiss, then I pulled away and jumped up the ramp into the airship. The hatch closed behind me, and while I made my way up onto the open deck I felt the tremor that signified it had lifted off.

“Into the breach once more,” I mumbled to myself. “Or maybe not.”

As I stepped onto the deck, I noticed that Elia was waiting for me. Although it was just starting to rain, she leaned against the wall of whatever they called the roofed structure where some of the instruments were, beside the overhang.

“You know, I had a talk with my grandmother,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Well, it’s more like I was in a temple thinking hard at her and I got a few words from her.”

I smiled wryly. “Yes, I think I know what you mean. So, are you going to be leaving us?”

Elia shook her head and grinned. “No, I’ll be sticking around for a while. I’m not supposed to interfere in your conflict with the Storm too directly, but no one said anything about helping the Empire, or just being a good friend.”

“I’m glad.” I chuckled, leaning on the railing close to her. “For a granddaughter of the Sun, you’re surprisingly … not straightlaced.”

Elia grinned at me. “There’s more than one way of being, you know, ‘true’. I’m honest with myself, or have you ever caught me telling a lie?”

I raised a pointed eyebrow. “There was that time you pretended to be in the second stage of cultivation instead of the third.”

“Oh. Right.” She pouted. It looked odd on her. “Well, you saw through it, so I’ve never really lied to you, at least.”

“Not successfully,” I corrected with a small grin. “But fine.”

She flipped her hair and pushed off with an exaggeratedly put-upon expression. “If you insist on being annoying, I will go to someone who can appreciate me. And Lei is much more fun, too.”

I laughed, watching her stalk away, and tilted my face up into the rain. For all the problems this continent had brought me, there were a few good things, too.

“Inaris! Come on, wake up already!” Elia’s frustrated voice resounded in my ears.

I blearily opened my eyes, needing a moment to orient myself. Narrow wooden walls swayed around me. I was lying in my cabin on bard the ship and feeling the waves. Although they weren’t as big as before I’d gone to sleep, were they?

“What’s up?” I muttered, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

“Finally!” Elia sighed. “I’ve been trying to wake you for ages. We’re arriving in Adzur right now.”

I scrambled out of bed, checking on the position of everyone else with my qi senses. “I was playing with Xiaodan,” I explained.

“Ah.” Elia seemed to soften at that. “Well, we should go.”

I nodded and pulled on an outer robe while she left the room. I’d had far too little time for Al and An, especially with Mother gone. The least I could do was spend some time with them in my dreams while I was away. At least they were both doing okay, as far as I could tell. Al still acted a little too edgy, and I knew he wasn’t over what had happened with Mother and Carston, but he seemed to be dealing with it. An was still a child, and I wasn’t sure how much of what happened she really understood, but it didn’t seem to have affected her too badly. She was mostly the same bright, cheerful kid as always.

I shook my head and focused on my surroundings as I hurried out onto the deck of the airship. Yarani and Lei were waiting at the railing, engaged in conversation. They stopped when I joined them.

Yarani smiled. “Quite a sight, isn’t it, Nari?”

I looked out over the forest of stone, earth and city rising out of the sea, and let out an impressed whistle. “Yes, it’s really something.”

Except for a few toeholds on the continent, Adzur was located on the Chain, off the southeastern coast of the Earth Continent. Instead of a single island chain, it was more of a clumpy collection of islands. I could see them spreading out before and to the sides of us, as our ship pulled into the harbor of the largest structure, which made up their main city. It spread across several decently sized islands and a few smaller ones, and its harbor was filled with pier upon dock of ships in many different sizes, shapes and colors, from small fishing boats to vessels almost rivaling the large container ships of Earth.

“They say Adzur’s heartland is the greatest working of earth qi cultivators in the world,” Lei commented. “I understand why much better now.”

I looked beyond the harbor, and as the ship turned and the landscape spread out further in our sight, I had to agree. The Adzurians had built many artificial land-bridges between the parts and islands of the Chain, especially here in the center. An entire side of the city of Adzur itself was little more than rocks in the ocean that had been built on with bridges, platforms and supports for buildings. And the bridges between the islands weren’t just an architectural marvel, but a huge artistic installation. Or many. They were all prettied up in some way, with decorative carvings of wood and stone, statues and crenelations, pictures and even precious stone insets. Most of them were painted to be a riot of color, showing everything from abstract geometric shapes to paintings of landscapes, animals and people, religious motifs, and even what looked like the first surrealist art I’d seen in this world. Despite the large variety, things seemed to have been planned out to some degree so they didn’t clash too much, but instead unfolded into a beautiful composition.

It almost made me miss the factories, with chimneys belching smoke into the air, or the cables pulling boats on paths between and under the islands and bridges.

“Are we going to have some time to explore?” Yarani asked hopefully.

I glanced at her. “I hope so.” After a week of traveling on a cramped vessel, even I was getting tired of being cooped up. I itched to explore this city and its wonders. But I knew the needs of my country came first, and I might not have much time.

By now, our ship was pulling into the harbor proper and starting to dock on a prominently placed stone pier. I could tell that the area around it had been cleared, and two smaller ships flying the flag of the City-State of Adzur prominently lurked beside our position, while a group of guardsmen with colorfully plumed helmets formed neat ranks on the ground.

I smoothed out my robes and quickly checked that I was presentable. A light drizzle was just starting to fall, but one of the guards erected a shield of air qi to keep everyone dry. We stepped down the wooden ramp onto the dock, then I took Yarani’s arm and we walked forward with Lei on my other side, the guards and a few diplomats following.

The delegation greeting us was composed of different kinds of people, I saw. Not that I really expected anything else. From what I’d read, Adzur was ruled by what I’d call a bastard cousin of democracy, and there were several power blocks. It didn’t surprise me that one of the people wore a crescent-moon shaped amulet over dark robes, clearly a priest, and one a naval uniform, while the rest looked like they were probably politicians or maybe businessmen.

“Your Highness,” one of them said, as they all bowed. “We welcome you and your companions to the City-State of Adzur. I hope your trip was pleasant. If you would like to follow us, accommodations have been prepared for you, and the members of the assembly and the premier are looking forward to speaking to you.”

I inclined my head. “Thank you. I am glad to be here. Adzur’s beauty truly does the tales justice.”

A few more pleasantries were exchanged, then we got underway. I slowed down as we neared the city proper, looking around. Lei wasted no time in engaging our escort in conversation, asking about the architecture, but I only listened with half an ear.

“They’re being friendly, but not very timid,” Yarani commented quietly.

I weaved a bit of air qi around us for privacy. “They probably think I’m here to get an alliance, so they assume a position of strength.”

“But you’re not,” she stated, raising an eyebrow.

I shook my head. “There are a few things I’m not willing to touch.”

And it was good that I didn’t need to. Their navy might be nice, but with Terbekteri, that left me unconcerned. Our trade didn’t really need their presence, much less an alliance, and if I wanted to spread new technology, I could do that in other ways. Besides, I won’t need an alliance to get a feel of their own tech if I play my cards right.

Yarani frowned a little. “I’m not sure what you mean. They wouldn’t be too much of a threat for us, and just going by the way you deal with Ming Li, we could probably work with them.”

“They freaking own slaves, Yarani,” I hissed. “I might have been acting more ruthlessly, but some things are a hard ‘no’. And slavery is absolutely disgusting, no matter how nice a varnish they might put on it.”

She pulled a face and nodded, squeezing my hand in silent apology or agreement. I gave her a quick smile and turned my focus back to the city around us, where they had pulled up self-propelled carriages for us whose shape reminded me a little of cars.

Ah, the trappings of civilization.