The tense silence was broken by the ringing of the communications device, and it seemed like everyone let out a collective breath. The ringing was an affectation, since this wasn’t actually a telephone, just a qi communication talisman, but I’d added the sound effect on a whim.

We were gathered in another sitting room, since the last one still bore the marks of the explosion, but it had come to resemble it quickly, complete with stacks of papers strewn around. Aston leaned against the wall close to me while Yarani was sitting beside me and had been talking with Elia, who kept exchanging glances with Lei.

I picked up. “Yes, Director?”

“Your Highness,” the voice of Director Ariand’le of the Alchemical Consortium answered. “The motion to restrict trade with the Empire was taken to the Chamber, but not carried, with a majority voting against.”

“I see. Thank you, Director Ariand’le.” I hung up and smiled, even as I saw the others start to smile as well.

No one would be surprised that the Consortium had enough pull to get this result quickly, even though the Chamber, the Adzurian parliament elected by property owning citizens, was supposed to hold closed sessions. She’d even influenced the results, as had high priest Moongrace and their allies.

“That’s it, then,” I said. “We’re done here. Time to head back home.”

Lei and Yarani frowned at this. They weren’t happy at the lackluster results of our diplomatic visit. While we’d averted the danger of the embargo pushed by the Zarian, we didn’t have much to show for the trip that we’d achieved for ourselves. I shared their sentiment, even if I tried not to let it show. But I had to weigh the time we’d have to spend here chasing other achievements against other considerations.

“We might even get back in time for the offensive in the south,” Aston said.

I gave him a quick smile. “We’ll miss its start, they might even have begun already. As intended. But we’ll probably be there for its finale, which is what we wanted.”

“Retaking Blue Valley City,” Yarani murmured, a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Yep.” I stood and stretched. “We still need to prepare a few things.”

In the end, it took until the end of the day for everything to be ready. I had a brief conversation with the Premier over another qi talisman, but didn’t meet with anyone else. We wanted our departure to be quiet. I’d talk to the sea dragons on the way, once we were on the ship and the open ocean, and ask them to stop. They would … probably.

A surprising number of the slaves from the Consortium wanted to stay in Adzur. I’d offered all of them to take them with me to the Empire and get them settled there, but I supposed moving to another country was not an easy decision. At least Adli had decided to come with minimal prompting and the prospect of employment in the Empire’s intelligence community. If they’d wanted to go their own way, I wasn’t sure if I should or would have brought them along anyway. They were a valuable asset and a potential liability, but I still didn’t like the thought of essentially kidnapping someone. Especially an ex-slave. I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have to make that decision.

Some of the members of my diplomatic retinue — no surprise there — and a few agents Kariva had placed in the city before had wrung every bit of information they could out of the former slave, and then hatched a plan for stomping on the ZCA presence in the City-State. I was only aware of the general outline, but I’d helped them find a few safehouses and pointed out a few angles. Some of that hadn’t even been on purpose. At least not entirely. I had focused on my connection to Rijoko and tried to let my instincts guide me the whole time. But a few offhand comments and questions had apparently been enough to stop the agents stumbling into a problem, pointed them in the direction of a Zarian agent we hadn’t uncovered before, and got them to scrap and remake a plan that would have probably failed otherwise.

Sometimes, my bloodline was just weird. Although Rijoko had probably taken a bit of a hand in this, I couldn’t be sure. For all I knew, just someone talking about the plan and asking questions would have done the same thing anyway.

But my father is very helpful towards me. He definitely is. I focused on the thought for a moment, trying to believe it. It left me feeling vaguely ill-at-ease. My teachers back on Earth would be embarrassed, I couldn’t help but think. Well, maybe not, but I still strove to be rational, and trying to manipulate my own beliefs went against the grain for me. That it would actually work just kind of made it worse.

I shook my head and focused on my surroundings. We were finally leaving Adzur behind, the ship had just pulled out of the harbor. I leaned against the railing and watched the flags of the nearby ships flap in the wind. It had picked up, and judging by the dark clouds gathering on the horizon, a storm was on its way. But the ship still made good time away from the island.

“I can’t wait to get back home,” Yarani said, flicking her hand and creating a qi shield against the beginning drizzle. “We’ve been away for too long.”

“Yes, definitely.” I sighed and shook the hair out of my eyes. “I haven’t seen my siblings in ages. I kind of feel like I’m a crappy sister.”

Yarani laid a hand on my arm. I shifted and took it with my own. “We’re visiting them now?” she asked.

I nodded. “I sent word a while ago, sending An to the Empress’ summer palace by Lake He. Of course Kei Yating would have come along, and, I imagine, enough people for a miniature court. But it’s still far more quiet and peaceful than the Imperial Palace, and she should get to relax and play without being bothered. Al is spending some time there, as well.”

The crown had dozens of these scattered around the continent, but I knew I’d spent time at that one myself, growing up. I looked into the distance, seeing a glimpse of deep blue water and vibrant meadows. It was only a vague recollection, but I still smiled.

“That’s probably best for everyone,” Yarani said. “So we’ll stop by there on the way?”

“Yeah. I wish I could retreat to some country home and cultivate in peace for a while, honestly, but we have too much to do.” I shrugged. “At least we’ll see Tenira and Kajare again, and the rest.”

We stood in silence for a bit, watching as the islands of the Chain shrunk behind the ship. I got lost in my thoughts deeply enough that I flinched when a change in the qi around us broke me out of my ruminations. I glanced at the other side of the ship, even though I couldn’t see what was happening from here through the cabin. But I could sense that it was Elia. She’d said that she wanted to break through to the fourth stage soon. It looked like she wasn’t wasting any time, although it would still take her a few hours, at least. I shivered and pulled my robe tighter around me, the hairs on my arms standing up from sensing what might be the attention of the Sun.

“I sometimes forget how young she is,” Yarani commented.

I snorted. Elia had only turned twenty-one a few weeks ago, so she was still a year older than me, at least physically. She was also advancing quickly. Reaching the fourth stage at barely twenty-one was pretty impressive, if you weren’t a cheat existence like me. Even Tenira had only done it a little earlier because of the boost from her soul journey.

The cabin door opened and Lei stumbled out, still looking back. He shook his head and ambled forward in our direction.

“Hey, Lei,” I called. “Do you have a minute?”

He turned towards me, looked like he wanted to sigh and came closer. “Sure.”

Yarani gave my hand a squeeze, then discretely withdrew to the lower deck to leave the two of us alone. Lei leaned against the railing and raised an eyebrow at me.

I gave him my best serious look. “Don’t you think you’re a little old for her?”

He winced and ran a hand through his hair. “Uh, well, I’m not really that much older, I mean, if you consider my mental age with my soul journey, I’m only really twenty-three, not twenty-five, so it’s only a few years …”

I grinned. “Relax. Even if it wasn’t for that, I trust Elia to handle herself. A few more years won’t help you with her.”

Lei leaned back and gave me an annoyed look. “Fine. Then what do you want, Nari?”

“I just wanted to talk.” I shrugged and smiled at him.

He looked at me for a moment longer, his eyebrows drawn down, until he twitched a little and lowered his gaze, staring at the other railing of the ship. “I’m actually serious about this, Inaris. Her. It’s not just some game. I might not have much experience with relationships, but I want to try my best. And I think she feels the same way. I don’t know if it will lead anywhere. Though to be honest, I hope it will. I know it’s probably not …” he trailed off, shrugging.

“Don’t misunderstand me,” I said, placing a hand on his arm. “I’m happy for the two of you, really.”

He looked back up at me and his expression brightened. “Thanks, Nari.”

I shrugged and leaned back against the railing. For a while, we both waited silently, watching the waves and the ship. I could tell that Lei was still a little tense, and I didn’t really know what to say, how to broach what I wanted to talk about.

Finally, he spoke up. “I’m sorry about the thing with the Consortium. Even if it turned out well, I know I shouldn’t have done that. I let myself get carried away.”

I nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate you saying that, and I accept your apology.”

He smiled, clearly relieved. It made me wonder if he’d expected me to carry a grudge. That didn’t seem to fit, though.

“I’m sorry if this is a stupid question,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “But, why do you do this? Follow me, I guess. I know we’re friends, I’m just wondering if there’s more to it.”

Lei tilted his head, looking at me thoughtfully. “Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just realized I don’t understand. I mean, I’m not sure what you want.”

He nodded. “Well, I don’t know what you expect, but there’s nothing really to it. I mostly just do what I want. What I like. I understand my situation and that you’re in charge, that doesn’t bother me, but I don’t really care.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You mean about the political situation, the war, or the Empire?”

Lei shrugged. “Yes, all of that, really. I don’t feel some special need to protect or help the Empire. Let me put it like this: I wouldn’t really care about the Empire, except for the fact that it would be hard to get funding for my experiments without it and that it’s where my friends are. And I have no intention of getting anywhere near the throne, so you don’t need to worry about me becoming a rival or anything.”

I frowned, appraising him for a moment. Lei was probably best positioned for someone within the clan to actually challenge me. He was one of the closest relations, descended from my grandmother’s brother and the nephew who’d been supposed to be her heir, and a talented scion of the clan. It had never really occurred to me to worry about him, though.

Looking at him now, the casual indifference he portrayed, I couldn’t help but think of Kariva. He hadn’t been quite as young as her when he’d died on his soul journey, sixteen, coming back to the life of an eighteen-year-old. Although he remembered even less of this life, almost as little as me. I felt like I could see some scars in him now, brought to my attention by the conversation, although that might just be an overdramatic reaction to what was simply his personality.

“You still care about us, though?” I said.

“Of course.” Lei met my eyes squarely. “Tenira and you are the most important people in my life. I love you both. Platonically. Don’t get any ideas.”

I grinned. “Aww. I’m touched, Lei. And I feel the same.” I shrugged. “Then that’s all I need to know, I don’t care about the rest.”

He nodded, leaning back. “Then if that’s all you wanted to talk about, I feel like I need to burn something. I’ll go see if Yarani’s up for a spar.”

“You do that.”

I watched him walk away, thinking about the conversation, then shook my head. It hadn’t escaped my attention that Lei hadn’t asked me what I wanted. Probably because he really didn’t care.

A touch on my mind wrested me out of those thoughts. I breathed out and closed my eyes, focusing on my mental senses and tracing the contact back.

‘You’re done in Adzur.’

‘Yes, I am, Flame-In-Dark-Waters,’ I answered. ‘Things turned out alright, if not quite the way I wanted.’

‘That’s good to hear,’ he said. ‘Zarian have been sniffing around these waters, but we’ll make sure nothing bothers you on your journey back. So you know, we are also founding new nesting-places on the reefs you’ve cleared for us. Things are going well.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ I smiled, transporting the sensation through the telepathic link. ‘Regarding Adzur, would you stop bothering them? Please.’

Flame-In-Dark-Waters sent the sensation of moving his tentacles to make a swirling gust of water, what I’d learned was his version of a shrug. ‘I’ll tell them all we’re no longer hostile and that there’s no reason to continue. A few might keep going anyway.’

‘Can you stop them?’ I asked. ‘I don’t want this to make trouble for either of us.’

‘I’ll make sure they know that I’ll be displeased by any further hostilities,’ he answered, with the sense of a faint sigh. ‘That should do it.’

‘Thanks, Flame-In-Dark-Waters. I don’t deserve you guys.’

‘Don’t forget that,’ he replied, sending a ripple of water and the sensation of amusement. ‘Good luck back home, Inaris.’

I smiled to myself as I felt his mind withdraw, knowing he was diving back deep into the ocean. Contacting the sea dragons might have been one of the best decisions Mother had made.

If only everyone was as reasonable and easy to deal with as the sea monsters.