She spoke in a strange, mode-less version of Sterath. Serenity could understand it, but it was only used when you didn’t know the relative relationship to use the correct mode; even then, it was an unusual mode. Serenity somehow hoped she’d used it on her captors, but it was more likely she was using it here because she didn’t know who he was.

“I’ll send you back through the portal you used to enter this room.” There were a lot of other options that were worse, but he wasn’t willing to follow through on most of them. Oddly enough, threatening to kill her would probably only encourage her to resist; death in combat was a lesser threat than being a captive.

A bitter laugh from his captive made it clear he’d guessed correctly: she didn’t want to go back. “Who are you?”

There was no reason not to admit the truth and every reason to tell her who he was, even if he sent her back. Knowing that someone with the Name of a boogeyman was fighting against them wouldn’t help them in their fight. He said the name in Sterath for once, instead of using the English translation. “I’m Serenity.”

The portal mage seemed to shiver, before she relaxed in his arms. She looked down and then did something Serenity completely didn’t expect. In the same mode-less version of Sterath, she clearly stated, “I submit to Serenity.”

Serenity felt a wordless question from the Voice. Interactions like that were rare, but it was still clear what it was asking. He needed to respond. It wasn’t a hard decision; this was more than he’d asked, but it wasn’t a bad thing. “I accept.”

He felt a momentary tug on his mana and essence pools and he allowed it; he hadn’t expected it, but he trusted the Voice. It had to be something related to the Sterath’s submission; chances were that it would mean that he could trust her more than he could have otherwise.

The magic moved out of him and into the Sterath. It didn’t take long, and once it was done Serenity dropped his arms and stepped back, giving her the space her species preferred.

Serenity watched her for a moment before he realized what was happening. He’d never seen a Sterath change markings before; he’d always thought it happened over time and when they replaced their damaged armor, but apparently it could happen quickly. The three parallel wavy lines that meant she was a member of the Unkaa were fading, replaced by a darkened area that looked a lot like a pair of feathered wings spread for flight. Unlike the Unkaa symbol, which was simply a darker version of her chitin color, the wings were in a varying set of blueish purples that reminded Serenity of his own scale coloration.

He’d never chosen a symbol, though he remembered rejecting the one the Final Reaper had used. Apparently the Voice had chosen one for him. It wasn’t a bad choice; it was certainly far better than the Final Reaper’s was for who he was now.

The symbol was a large clue as to what had just happened, but Serenity wanted to be certain that he was on the same page as the Sterath. “What did you do?”

The mage spun to face him and jumped. “I - why did that - you aren’t -”

This was clearly going to be a longer conversation, and there was a threat hanging in the air over them. They shouldn’t have the conversation here without taking care of it.

Serenity glanced at the portal that still hung in the air above the first circle. If he didn’t want any more Sterath to come through, he needed to close the portal permanently. It clearly wasn’t the invasion portal itself, but in many ways that didn’t matter; he didn’t want a flood of Sterath to investigate why the portal mage didn’t return.

This was probably a cutout portal, intended to allow the Sterath to move around the city without being caught. It probably meant that they didn’t have any truly adept portal mages, but perhaps it was simply too difficult to make a true long-distance portal on such a low-Tier world. That was a question for the mage.

If he did this right, he could make it look like the mage was dead instead of captured. That would be worthwhile. On top of that, he could prove that his best guess of a way to close a portal would work.

The Sterath mage was still sputtering.

Serenity smiled and shook his head at her. “Right. So we’ll talk about that after I deal with the portal. They’re not going to send anyone after you if they think you’re dead, are they?”

“Deal with the - no, why would they? But it’s a Portal Skill, there’s no way to deal with it! Counterspells don’t work on Skills.” The Sterath mage repeated a “fact” that was well known but in Serenity’s experience not particularly accurate.

“That may be less true than you think it is. I think I may go for something a bit explosive…” Serenity’s grin turned fierce as he stepped up to the circle and examined the spellform. It had the same weakness he’d identified in the rockfin’s portal; he could tell it the spell was done and it was supposed to close and it would, even though the spellcaster on the other side was still feeding it mana. Even better, there wouldn’t be a proper place for the mana to go once the portal started closing, so it might well explode.

Space-attuned mana could have some very interesting properties when it was improperly managed. Serenity doubted anyone too close to the other side would doubt that something major had gone wrong to make the spell “explode”, even though that wasn’t exactly what would happen. If they were using a mage who had to use a Path Skill to make a local portal, it was very unlikely they’d have anyone who could figure out what actually happened.

Serenity could hear the Sterath mage muttering behind him, but it didn’t seem important until he heard her grumble about remembering to use modes. Her next sentence was in an abject superior-to-inferior mode; not quite a slave speaking to a master, but close.

Serenity swapped to the same modeless version of the Sterath language she’d been using. He habitually used the royal, commanding mode, but there really wasn’t a need for that with someone he wasn’t trying to overawe. It would be better if she could talk to him easily. “You can use modeless Sterath if you want. You can even use Bridge if that makes you more comfortable. I don’t care.”

Serenity reached out to the spellform and twisted the spellform just a bit in the right place so that it would recognize that it’d been properly shut down. The portal closed without any strange reactions on this side, just as he’d expected. It was too bad he couldn’t confirm what happened on the other side, but at this moment it was just as well that no one could see through these portals. It made it far easier to sneakily close.

“You did that. You closed someone else’s portal.” The Sterath mage spoke in the modeless version of Sterath, but she seemed bewildered. “You’re not the Shameful One but you have the Name and - and somehow the Binding worked even though you aren’t Sterath! Or a Lord!”

Serenity smiled, then continued in modeless Sterath. “I am a Lord, I suppose. City Lord, at least. If that’s what you mean. That’s not important here. Let’s start at the beginning. What’s your name?”

“Name? I don’t have a Name. How would I?” The Sterath mage sounded bitter.

”What should I call you, then?” Serenity didn’t care if she had a formal Name; he simply wanted to talk to her normally.

The Sterath glared at the spot where the portal had been. “They called me captive or lowest-rank, mostly. Sometimes mage. Or worse.”

“And before? When you were with your people?”

The mage didn’t reply for a long moment. Serenity waited; hurrying wouldn’t help, and the time he had alone with her would be limited. Speaking of that, how was he going to get her out of here? He’d need a vehicle, but there really wasn’t space in the van with the portal-detector spread all over the back. She wouldn’t fit in a seat, anyway. Serenity decided to do what his father recommended: hand the problem off to someone who had the resources to solve it. He texted Janice.

Hey, I need transportation for something big. A van would work if there’s space in the back.

He added his current GPS coordinates. He wasn’t sure how long it would take her to arrange it, so he added a question about ETA.

While he was at it, Serenity knew he really should let the two scientists he was working with know what they needed to. There was a reason they’d traded cell numbers, even if Dr. Ridge hadn’t wanted to.

Found the source of the signals - two portals. They’re closed now. Have a few more things to clean up here; you two can go on without me, just mark anything you find on the map and I’ll follow up later.

When he was done, the mage still hadn’t replied to his question, so Serenity decided to ask it differently. “You don’t have to use the same name. What would you like me to call you?”

When she looked up, Serenity could see the misery in her expression before she returned to her neutral face. “You are not Sterath, but you act with the honor of my House Lord.” She seemed to slump a little. “Not that my House Lord lives. He accepted the call of shame. I would have followed him.”

Serenity tried to follow the Sterath’s strange, twisted logic. He was confident that it suited her situation and culture but while he knew a good bit about Sterath culture, he’d never been a part of it. “You thought I was a Shameful One, didn’t you? That’s why you submitted.”

“Who else would have accepted one so damaged as I? You are, or you will be. More than that, you are here to fight the Kaelitha. They are a House of great honor; it is only right that a Shameful One should fight them. It is wrong of me to wish for your victory.” The mage’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she spoke.

Serenity couldn’t stop himself from shaking his head a little. She was a treasure trove of information, but he’d have to be careful what he asked, because it would all be couched in a very different culture. “Perhaps less upstanding than you think. Tranquil Conviction supports them in this - though for his own reasons, not theirs.”