The soft clinking of jet-black scales on light yellow tiles echoed through the small, stuffy room as General Temery Hoalt set up the remote check-in equipment for her weekly progress report. The four gold projection devices weren’t fragile by any means, as was made obvious by the many dings and bumps from when they’d been stepped on, dropped, or punched in a fit of rage, but they were finicky. One inch out of alignment and something wouldn’t come through correctly, and after half an hour of struggling with the damned things, Temery was about to add a few new dings and cracks of her own to the flat-bottomed spheres. But she had information that Hoalt needed to hear, and she couldn’t risk actually breaking one of the damned things.

Grumbling a stream of profanities under her breath that would have gotten her forcibly removed from any bar on the world piece, Temery slammed the fourth device down on a stack of books that she’d balanced on a crate of provisions that sat on a folding stool she’d stolen out from under a soldier who’d been pissed until he saw the frustration on Temery’s face. Then the soldier had winced in sympathy, pulling a large stone from the nearby riverbank over and slicing away the top with his Issi for a makeshift replacement seat. If this didn’t work Temery might have to go requisition that rock as well, and the thought brought a brief smirk to her face that quickly dissolved back into the frustrated scowl she’d worn for the greater part of an hour.

“Aww, is someone having trouble?”

Temery silently cursed as the newcomer’s voice grated over her last nerve. She did not have time to deal with this, but she also couldn’t ignore one of Hoalt’s brats. She straightened her back and ran a finger from her temple to the corner of her eye, wiping away the golden Issi that had built up there from a combination of her manifestation and her frustrated venting.

“You would know how aggravating setting up these meetings is if you took the time to aid me.” Temery said, keeping her voice as calm as possible as she swiped the gold away from her other temple. Atrem would use anything she gave him, and so she’d become practiced at giving him exactly enough to sate him. Nothing more, nothing less. And if that sacrifice was another tearing down based on her status as an adopted child? She’d been called worse by better.

Atrem audibly sneered as he made his way through the maze of a room, purposefully knocking into the patchwork pillars that held up the golden communication devices as he went. Temery clenched her teeth and felt her chest growing hot, and she breathed out a long, quiet breath to diffuse the weapon that was arming itself in her lungs. Atrem had to have taken notice, and she could feel his glee when he thought she couldn’t do anything. Wouldn’t do anything.

He walked up in front of her, his jet-black eyes boring into hers with the arrogance only someone born into power could manage. “You’re the one father put in charge of this little band, but I’m in charge of you.” He jammed a finger at Temery’s chest, a sneer coming over his mouth of perfectly white teeth. “It’d be for the best if you didn’t forget that. And hurry up; father won’t tolerate it if you make us late again.”

“Yes, sir.” Temery said, forcing a little bit of her Issi out to make it look like she was having trouble controlling herself. Atrem would leave faster if he thought he’d truly gotten under her skin. “It will be done immediately, sir.”

“Of course it will. You’re the one out of favor with father.” Atrem smirked, turning on his heel and walking away with his chin raised. “Maybe this will be the meeting where he finally realizes you’re pointless dead weight and turns over this entire operation to someone who truly deserves the mantle of duty. I’m already the leader in all but name, why not make it official?”

Temery waited for Atrem to leave, then calmed her Issi with a passing thought and went back to work. She didn’t get this far by lashing out at every asshole with something to prove, and Atrem wasn’t even the worst she’d dealt with. He could be a real bastard to anyone who didn’t have at least some of the connections she had, and every moment he wasted on her was one where he wasn’t terrorizing some poor soldier who was just trying to do their job. She nudged the last sphere into what she hoped was the right place, then put a thumb on top of it and fed a drop of her Issi into the device. It glowed with a black inner light, which was a good sign, but she wouldn’t know if the array was set up right until she activated the other three. The second sphere lit up correctly, as did the third, and the fourth sputtered a little before doing as its brethren had. She’d have to get Hyriam to look at that one later.

The dark light bubbled inside of the spheres as they spun down into threads of gold, until eventually there was a globe of iridescent black light surrounded by a vortex of thin golden threads. So far, so good. Temery took a step back to give the devices all the space they needed to work, and the threads shot out from their orbits to begin knitting together a scene. Hoalt’s war room spun itself out of gold, the threads forming a large square table with eight comfortable looking chairs on either side of it. On one end of the table there was a scattering of tablets and trinkets, their original colours lost to the gilded threads, and a huge man sorting through them with a magnifying eyepiece as he wrote on one of the tablets with what Temery knew was chalk.

“Hoalt.” Temery said with a bow, walking into the device’s area of effect so that Hoalt’s own would spin a duplicate of her on his side.

“Ah, Temery.” Hoalt said in a soft, gentlemanly voice, removing his eyepiece and setting it down on the table next to him as he gave her a small smile. “So good to see you again. Have you encountered any troubles with our friends up in the glacier?”

“None, sir. We are on schedule to arrive at the glacier tomorrow morning, and everything will unfold from there. But we did encounter someone that we thought you might be interested in hearing about.”

“Oh?” Hoalt asked, leaning closer to Temery. “Do tell.”

“We met a group that was on the run from Glasrime.”

That seemed to grab Hoalt’s attention. “And they told you as much?”

“Not quite.” Temery reached into her pocket and produced a small crystal with a twinkle of purple and silver inside of it. She knew Hoalt couldn’t see the colours, but she also knew he would understand what this meant. “One of them was Rainshear’s girl, and she looked pretty beaten up. Both physically and mentally, sir.”

“So Rainshear finally bit the hand that fed her.” Hoalt said, nodding as if he’d known this was coming. “I see we were correct not to give her sanctuary when she asked for it. Was there anything remarkable about any of the others?”

“The only remarkable thing was how utterly unremarkable they were.” Temery said, and she felt the Issi shifting around her. Hoalt’s power settled on her even this far away, his golden facade shimmering and shaking until his features took on a slightly more draconic look. “I have reason to suspect one of them is a constant.”

“Truly?” Hoalt asked in an unchanged voice. “Were they one we are aware of?”

“Not from what I’ve been told, no. But I captured this to give you an idea.” Temery tapped on the crystal, and Hoalt nodded appreciatively. “I’ll send Paui to deliver it first thing in the morning.”

“And was that the extent of the group?”

Temery chuckled, and Hoalt raised an eyebrow. “No, sir. In addition to the previous two, there was also a wisp manifestation that felt both newborn and ancient, a woman so malnourished she must be subsisting on Issi alone, and a man whose headspace has completely dissociated from his own body.”

Hoalt tapped his chin. “Do not speak a word of this to anyone. If it is true that there is still an unknown constant, he will be a weapon unlike any our world has seen in centuries. If he already has loyalties, he could be a grave danger to us. And with the state our city is in…” Hoalt sighed. “There needs to be change, Temery. We cannot keep on as we have for so long.”

“Understood, sir. Should I call in your real son now?”

Hoalt’s face twisted into a frown, but he nodded. “It was good speaking to you again, Temery.”

Temery kept her face neutral, but a frown kept trying to worm its way onto it. She was out of favor, which would have been a career ending proclamation for anyone less important than she was. As it stood, this could very well be her last time reporting in. “I’ll fetch Atrem. Goodbye, sir.”

Turning on her heel, Temery let the scowl she’d been holding in take shape on her face as she left the communications hut. It served dual purposes; Atrem would take pleasure in her discomfort, and she could finally let out some of the repressed frustration that had been welling up ever since she’d gotten that one black envelope sealed with golden wax. Her lungs grew hot as golden Issi steamed out of the corners of her mouth, and every soldier she walked by had a sad look on their faces. She didn’t need their pity, but she took it nonetheless as she stalked towards the intricate castle-like building that served as Atrem’s home away from home. Daddy needed to have a private talk with his boy, and she needed to destroy something.