“You were far scarier than I thought was possible for a child,” said Paragon Ying Xin. “Might have given him a nightmare lasting a couple of months, but I suppose that’s the best thing you could have done, under these circumstances.”

“Fear is an art,” said Jang-Woo, “and you seem to have mastered it. Watching you earlier was scarier than most things I’d seen…and I’ve seen lots of things in my life.”

“I wish I could have done more,” Gaius replied coldly, “but he is still part of the defenders here. If not for that fact…”

His voice trailed off. Deep down, Gaius too was somewhat surprised at how badly he’d reacted to someone disparaging the fallen at Eo-Seu. Now that clarity had returned to him, the boy found it somewhat odd that his reaction was overly emotional. It was probably one of Orb’s mysteries again, but he didn’t feel that repulsed by this incident for some reason.

“You’re not the only one feeling that way,” said the Paragon. “After all, I too wanted to teach him a good lesson. It’s just that my station is too high above his to justify such an act.”

“So…”

“No one’s going to find you for beating him up and making him crap his pants,” said the Paragon. “This should be an object lesson for him on why one should research the facts before spewing out random words.”

The others laughed at her words, and the tense atmosphere vanished. Gaius shook his head, and held out his hands, retrieving the Terminus he’d dropped onto the ground. A silver flash arced over into his hands — it was slightly less than twenty metres away, barely out of his range — and the boy stuffed the weapon into his clothes.

“Well, at least I learnt something new today,” said Himeko. “Turns out dropping your weapon can have effects on your opponent’s psyche.”

“It draws people’s eyes,” Gaius replied, “and makes your opponent confused if done right.”

“Look,” said Jang-Woo, “it works for the kid, because he’s using a dagger. You normally use a freaking sledgehammer. The ground’s going to shake if you drop it like that.”

Gaius glanced at the woman, who looked around twenty-six years old, and tried to imagine her swinging a giant blunt weapon around. Perhaps it was the things he’d heard about her from Paragon Ying Xin and from eavesdropping on the conversations going on in general, but she seemed to fit the image far better than he’d expected. The golden armour, especially the broad pauldrons she was wearing, probably helped him to visualise her holding a giant hammer better.

“I see the kid’s trying to imagine how you look like,” said Jang-Woo. “Why not show your majestic image to him?”

“Are you trying to make fun of me?” She rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “It’s in my room. Why on Orb would I bring such a huge weapon with me for a hit-and-run attack?”

“I thought you could shrink that thing and call it back whenever you wanted to,” Jang-Woo replied.

“Since when could I do that?” She asked, confusion evident in her voice.

“Wait, if you couldn’t, then those sledgehammers you threw…”

“They’re spare ones.”

Jang-Woo stared at her blankly for a moment, before he registered her words. His face warped and spasmed, his finger rising up slowly and shakily to point at her. “You threw such valuable weapons away just to nab a kill? Are you serious? Do you know how much metal goes into the creation of a sledgehammer? And…and you just threw them away?”

“What?” Himeko replied, somewhat annoyed. “They’re my weapons. What’s it got to do with you?”

“All that true silver, just gone. I could forge a few good weapons with that!” The man raised his hands weakly, and shook his head. “What a wastrel, what a wastrel.”

“He’s lost his marbles,” Himeko muttered. “Anyway, these hammers are mine.”

She looked around at the others, who were watching the show, and then turned to Gaius. “See that big brother over there? Don’t be like him. Obsession is bad, especially when the target of obsession is disposable.”

Himeko stuck a tongue out at the speechless Jang-Woo, and then flew off towards a tower.

“A bunch of fun personalities, aren’t they?” Paragon Ying Xin commented idly, a corner of her mouth covered by what looked like bits of peanuts. A few shells floated behind her — it seemed that she had been watching the little skit with some tasty treats on the side.

“From what I heard, the people who reported to you earlier were people whom you scouted personally to join the war effort, right?” Gaius asked. “How did you come to know them?”

“One of the Plenum’s many responsibilities is to search out and recruit gifted people to our side,” she replied. “And Knights fall in that particular category. Most Knights are skilled in combat, which means that they’re perfect as combatants and peacekeepers in any Territory’s capital.”

“Or at influential businesses.” Gaius rubbed his chin. “So, did the East hold a talent gathering? Or send invites to people who became a bit famous after becoming a Knight?”

“Both, as a matter of fact.” The Paragon cracked open another peanut with some qi, and willed the nuts into her mouth. After a few seconds of chewing, she said, “We are big fans of talent acquisition. Me and everyone else.”

“You’d have to be blind if you weren’t,” Gaius muttered. “Alright, are you going to keep us here for anything else, or can we go off to bed already? It’s long past my bedtime, and I’m quite sure you guys will badger me to haul ass over to the defence line when the attack starts tomorrow morning.”

“Haul ass…” The Paragon muttered. “Damn those guys. You sound like a grown man cursing at everything and anything now.”

“It’s a lot easier to curse and swear if everyone’s doing it, Paragon,” said Gaius, a sunny smile on his face. “Although I keep a note to not use the more…colourful options, so I guess that’s a good thing.”

“Colourful.” She waved her hands dismissively and raised her voice. “Alright, thank you for your hard work. You guys should go to sleep now. Do keep an ear out for the bell, however.”

Mutters of relief echoed throughout the area, and the boy sighed as he took to the air. “Goodnight, Paragon.”

“You too. Have a good rest. But remember to keep an ear out for the alarm. And before I forget…” She tossed a box at Gaius. “This is the Engine I promised you after the spar you had with Marshal Marie. Never found the time to pass it to you. Take good care of it.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure. Now, go get a few hours’ worth of sleep before anything else happens.”