Two guards were hovering at the center of the hostel's hall, weapons in hand. They flanked Serit as soon as they emerged from the corridor, then eyed Saia suspiciously when she followed them out.

“We only asked for engineer Serit,” one of them said. “Leave.”

If Saia had been on the fence about following them, those words consolidated the decision in her mind.

“I’m coming too.”

They raised their weapons, but she tore them away from their hands. She stopped next to Serit, irritated by the relief inside their viss.

The guards were looking at her in a threatening way. She stared back until one of them flew away to deliver a message.

“Follow us,” they said after coming back.

Saia walked in front of Serit as the spirits guided them through a series of platforms.

“What do they want?” she asked in Serit's ears.

They shrugged.

“If they are working with the kidnappers, me,” they explained, without bothering to lower their voice. “But in case they’ve found out who you are, probably you.”

The spirits stopped at the center of a platform that was covered on all sides with heavy drapings. Saia and Serit had to cross a makeshift wooden bridge to reach it, promptly removed by one of the guards once they were inside.

The platform trembled a bit, then started to rise, just like an elevator. From the spike of anxiety in Serit’s viss, Saia imagined the feeling was quite similar to when they were kidnapped.

She stepped closer to the walls of cloth and expanded her domain to look at what waited up ahead. They ascended past the living quarters where she'd fought the guards, then kept going past the industrial district. The platforms became even sparser, with some of them suspended only by the efforts of one newborn spirit. The empty space was filled by the waves and twists of long ribbons of cloth.

They ascended further, to the point Saia started to think they would only stop at the very top of the city. Then, she saw the wooden floor of a giant round platform just above them, with a hole near the border that would fit the elevator perfectly. She could see wind spirits manoeuvering a pulley on the other side of the hole.

“We're almost there,” she told Serit.

They started breathing deeper, maybe to slow down their racing heart. The platform rose a bit more, then moved forward and descended. It stopped with a thud, making Saia and Serit stumble. One guard preceded them outside, the other gestured for them to move.

Saia let Serit go first. The space outside was enormous and empty, except for the flags tied to long masts all around the distant borders of the platform. The cloth was long enough that it could touch the wooden floor and keep going for a bit, but the strong winds kept all of it floating. Saia noticed a flag with the same gray, blue and green triangles of the carpets exposed on the warehouse at Iriméze.

Under the flags hovered distant lights, each one a guard ready to converge on them at the first sign of danger. There was a bigger light at the center composed of a cluster of multiple spirits.

Serit was already heading toward them. As she followed them, Saia noticed that most of the platform was painted, leaving out only four corridors of bare wood, including the one they were walking on. They all converged to the center, to the bigger empty circle where the spirits were floating.

The paintings were small round scenes of wind spirits building cities or talking to each other, each character identified by details in their shape, clothing, and by the flags floating in the background. Some of them were simple landscapes, delimited by a circle of silvery paint and connected to each other by a web of sinuous silver lines that reminded Saia of ivy shoots.

Saia saw a scene that depicted two mountains, one right next to the other. She stopped in her tracks, the image so alien to her it demanded undivided attention. After an instant, she realized that she could still observe the painting while moving and resumed following Serit.

Apart from a cloudy sky and an expanse of grass, there was nothing else in the scene. One mountain was slightly smaller than the other, and both had different shapes than the one of mount Ohat. Maybe that was what Serit had meant when they'd mentioned there were other mountains in the world.

“Welcome,” a voice said from somewhere in front of them, and Saia focused on the group of spirits.

“The elders?” she asked in Serit's ears. They nodded imperceptibly.

There was a line of chalk drawn at the end of the corridor, just before it could connect to the circle at the center.

“Stop there,” the distant voice of an elder said. “We gave orders to kill you if you cross it.”

Saia didn’t find it surprising. If they knew what she was capable of, it made sense they wanted to protect themselves. She doubted those guards could actually hurt her, but they certainly could make her waste viss.

She observed the elders on the other side of the circle of polished wood. Their clothes looked like gowns made of overlapping layers. They wore them around the shoulders to cover the whole body, arms included, rather than starting at the waist. Each of them had a personal color scheme and patterns which corresponded to one or more of the flags all around them.

She recognized the one who had spoken because they were holding a device in front of their face identical to the amplifier the narrators used in the arena. A spirit descended from above toward Serit, holding the extremities of a red stripe of cloth in their hands. An identical device rested at its center.

Serit took it and brought the amplifier to their lips, but didn't say anything. Saia could see them trembling.

“They're scared of me,” she reminded them.

They only answered with a glance, then the elder spoke again.

“We're glad the representatives of Iriméze have sent one of their closest collaborators, even if we expected to meet you much sooner.”

Yellow and green half-moons alternated on their clothes. Saia just needed a glance around the arena to find the flag that corresponded to that pattern.

“I was sent here for private matters, as I'm sure the representatives have explained.”

“We asked for you alone,” said another elder wearing a beige dress with the giant shape of a red fish extending over multiple layers.

“Saia is tasked with protecting me. I'm sure one bodyguard won't represent a danger when compared to all the ones you brought here.”

“A bodyguard?” said the first one in a mocking tone, then briefly turned to look at the others. “Your daughter Héshe must think us stupid, Irid.”

The wind brought their laughter forward as the elders turned to look at one of them. They were wearing a cloth with triangles in gray, blue and green.

“Héshe is that elder's daughter?” Saia asked Serit.

They covered the amplifier with the palm of their hand before answering.

“No. They brought up the 'daughter' thing only to remark that they technically created us. Irid was the elder who founded Iriméze, back when the elders were still divided.”

Saia tried to wrap her head around it: that spirit must have been at least two millennia old. Not even Zeles was that ancient.

“We know who she is,” the elder in beige said. “Or what she is, rather. As a matter of fact, we called you here to talk about the spheres.”

Serit clamped their hand around the amplifier. Saia remembered their words about wind spirits not finding out about her, and the representatives' worries.

“We don't know why you've brought her here,” the one in green added. “But she's been seen loose in the city and she attacked two guards. We noted that no excuse came from you, nor explanations.”

“Excuses?” Serit repeated, too breathy to sound indignant as they had probably intended.

They seemed about to add something, then stopped, suddenly thoughtful.

Saia was surprised too, wondering why they were asking for explanations, unless Serit was wrong about the rebels working for them. Or maybe they were just pretending not to know.

She expanded her domain to gauge their reactions. Their viss was extremely difficult to read, still and unfazed. Probably the effect of having a couple of millennia at disposal to get used to sudden emotions.

“I hadn't realized you knew who she was,” Serit said. “For this reason, I thought the situation wouldn't look particularly serious. Since you know, I can't do anything else than apologize for the inconvenience I've caused you.”

They raised their cupped hand, even if one of them was still holding the amplifier.

“That said,” they added after an instant of silence, “May I ask why you summoned me here?”

“We want the sphere, her shard, and your full-time expertise,” the elder in beige said. “We'll pay you, but you won't be able to leave. If you won't provide us with all of these things in a reasonable timeframe, we'll attack and sink Iriméze.”

Serit could only stare back at them, then glanced at Saia with a lost expression.

“When you say that you need my expertise,” they said slowly. “What do you mean, exactly?”

“You'll be at our disposal to work on what we ask you to provide.”

They were clearly hinting at the ascension. Saia couldn't imagine how they would bring Serit with them, if their idea was actually building a chain. But more worrisome was their request for her sphere. She was glad her shard was far away from there, and that their guards were basically useless against her.

“You'll bring me with you,” Serit repeated. “You want Saia to power your ship, right? And I'm the only one who knows how to force her to do that, thanks to my research.”

The elders gave no sign of acknowledgement to their words.

“A ship?” Saia asked.

“Yes. The old man lied to us,” they said, without using the amplifier. “You've seen what the rebel ship was made of, right? Iron, and I bet there are copper tubes inside shaped in the various patterns needed to pilot it. That's the only way they can bring enough food with them.”

The elders' prolonged silence betrayed the fact they'd been taken by surprise by their words.

“How do you know about the ship?”

The elder who had spoken was different from the first two. The cloth they were draped in flowed softer and more easily than the ones of their colleagues. It was embroidered with circles of gold having a smaller red dot at the center. Wavy lines made of silver connected every circle to all of the others, creating an irregular net-like pattern.

Serit's eyes widened when the elder floated to the front of the crowd.

“Elder Shuisura,” they breathed out, then looked at Saia as if they expected her to have some sort of reaction to that name.

“She's the one who invented our cities,” they whispered, covering the amplifier.

Then they focused on the elder again, with their usual calculating stare.

“I’ll tell you the answer in a moment, elder Shuisura, but I need to ask you something first. How is the ascension supposed to work, exactly?”

Green cloth snickered, followed by a couple more elders.

“The fact you're talking about an ascension when none was announced tells us a lot about the kind of company you've been keeping.”

The corners of Serit's mouth raised in an imperceptible smile.

“Walk me through the details, please. You'll have to tell me the truth, eventually, if you want me to work for you.”

They looked down at the line of chalk in front of them.

“Saia,” they whispered. “I couldn't see well, but... My kidnappers were disguised, right?”

She thought about it.

“They had some empty crates for clothes and a merchant stall, if that's what you mean.”

When Serit spoke again, the words came slowly as if weighted down by just as many different thoughts.

“I’m fairly sure you could survive on your own even after leaving this world, as long as you'll have viss to eat. And you have tested that, I'm sure. So you likely won't need a ship so big it could contain the entire spirit population. But to get viss you'll need food, enough livestock that will reproduce in large enough quantities to sustain all of you. And these animals will need food too. But you already know that, right? That's not the problem.”

“I asked you a question, engineer,” Shuisura said. “I won't repeat myself.”

“Another issue is having enough viss to power the ship, as you called it,” Serit continued, talking faster. “And that's Saia's role. Once you have every piece and the ship has been built, you'll announce everything to the population and tame any revolt that will arise. The losers will be killed or forced to follow you, right? Because you don't want to let the undeserving walk away. It would undermine your power.”

“It would displease our gods,” beige specified with disdain.

“Right. The people move together, and anyone who can't or won't follow will die. Which raises the question of what you'll do with newborn spirits.”

“You’re trying to distract us from the negotiation,” green cloth said as Shuisura reiterated: “The ship. Who told you about it?”

They were uncoordinated, speaking out of order. Serit must have noticed that too, because they smiled wider, uncaring of whether the elders could see them.

“Right, the negotiation. The sphere, Saia, is right here. You can take her, if you want.”

Saia tensed, expanding her domain a bit to anticipate eventual attacks.

“What?” she yelled in Serit ears.

They winced, but laughed a bit.

“No one's moving, see? You said it yourself: they're scared.”

“We know of her power,” beige cloth said, talking over their whispered words. “And we know of the shard needed to control her. It's an insult that you would think us stupid enough to attack her.”

“Sorry, you're right. We have the shard. Iriméze has it. So I guess you shouldn't threaten us so lightly.”

All of the elders made an imperceptible movement, some floating higher, some letting the contours of their fog fray a little more, the edge of their clothes moving in faster waves.

Saia felt a smidge of respect for Serit for the way they stood up to the elders, even if now their smile had disappeared. Their viss was buzzing with fear as they realized what their words sounded like.

“Are you declaring war, then?” beige dress said. “Is this what you want? Our army against Iriméze and your sphere?”

Saia imagined how an attack on the city would play out. She could take advantage of the chaos to get her shard and run away, but there were people in the city that had nothing to do with her being captured. The ones to take the brunt of the attack would be the humans and children of viss at the fourth level, certainly not the representatives. So she'd have to stay and fight, maybe force them to give her the shard beforehand, since they'd be at her mercy either way. But then she'd have to use her viss to protect the city, and she didn't think she could survive that. And if she couldn't, there was little Iriméze alone could do against an assault of immortal, intangible and incredibly fast creatures.

Serit spoke again, interrupting her thoughts.

“No, that's absolutely not what I want,” their tone wasn't taunting anymore. “I only wanted to remark that we're not entirely at your mercy as you seem to believe. And I want to propose you a deal: Iriméze will gather the newborns for you and bring them to you, no matter how far the ship will be from our world. In exchange, we'll only need to borrow a smaller ship, and for you to give up on having me and Saia at your service.”

“We already have a solution to that, planned months ago,” green cloth said. “You are underestimating us again.”

Serit’s smile returned.

“Oh, I know about your solution. They tried to kidnap me three days ago.”

There was an instant of silence and stillness, then the elders' group was traversed by a wave of hesitant chatter.

“That's why I know about the ship,” Serit added softly, then lowered the amplifier and waited for a reaction.

“They didn't know,” Saia commented.

“No. The rebels would have succeeded if the elders had agreed to help. And they certainly wouldn’t have brought a disguise.”

The spirits' chatter died after Shuisura floated forward and started speaking.

“Explain yourself.”

Serit brought the amplifier back to their lips.

“You needed someone to build the ships, right? But it’s an enormous task that requires hundreds of workers, and you didn't want to tip off the general population that an ascension is about to happen. It's much easier to deal with a revolt once everything is ready, right?”

They let an instant pass, but the elders didn’t answer.

“In addition to that, your people will soon be too far away from this world to send back hunters and explorers without splitting up the population. The shilvé cities are underequipped to help you further and not entirely under your control. So who is going to find and bring you the newborns? This group of rebels, apparently. You found them, or they found you, and you made a pact to help each other.”

They paused, as if considering their own words.

“I wish I knew the details of this pact, but it doesn't matter now. What matters is that they know you need me, and they need me too for their own goals. So they took advantage of your permission to enter the city and kidnapped me before you could get at me in any other way. But they had to act in secret, otherwise the deal you have with them would have dissolved. Am I wrong?”

The spirits hovered in silence.

“Well, the offer stands. You can break your pact with them and have Iriméze's support instead. Far more reliable and easy to control, if not as secretive.”

Shuisura looked back at the other elders.

“We'll need to discuss this in private,” she said. “We'll return with our answer.”

They floated away as an uncoordinated group: green cloth stalled a bit with the amplifier in front of their face as if they wanted to add something, but beige dress pulled them away before they could.

“I’m confused,” Saia said in Serit's ears. “I thought you wanted to sabotage them, not help them.”

“It's what Filsun wants. I just need to get out of this situation alive and without a war pending on my city. Besides, if they'll accept I'll have struck a sweet deal for the representatives.”

“I don't see how. They didn’t want the elders to be involved or even know that I exist, and yet here we are.”

Serit returned serious.

“I’m concerned too about how they knew of my research in the first place. Did the rebels find out and tell them?”

They seemed to consider it for a bit, then shrugged and smiled.

“But the deal is good for us. We'll need a smaller ship to reach them with the newborns once the wind spirits will be far enough from this world. Sure, it will only be borrowed, but we'll have the chance to study it and build more of them, which is a huge advantage over the other cities.”

“When you say 'we', you mean 'you', right? You want to build more ships.”

“Me, Hilon, someone else, it doesn't matter. As long as I get the recompense for striking this deal.”

All the respect they'd earned from Saia evaporated. She hoped the wind spirits would refuse, then remembered the repercussions that might fall on her. She hated that once again her fate was tied to Serit's in the worst of ways. If they lost, she'd have died not long after; if they won, she would still lose.

Almost half an hour passed before the elders returned. Shuisura took the word once again.

“We ask to add one more condition to the pact. You will keep that sphere, but give us another one.”

Saia focused on Serit's face, expecting them to refuse, to negotiate further.

“Don't even think about it,” she said once the silence had protracted for too long.

“Sure,” they answered, almost at the same time. “We can arrange that.”

The elders flew away with their small army of guards. The spirits that were waiting near the elevator gestured for them to enter it.

“Are you serious? Another sphere?” Saia said out loud as soon as they were inside, this time alone.

The platform started its slow and uneven descent.

“Remember we still need to talk to the representatives about this and there will be further negotiations.”

But they weren't looking at her. Saia stepped forward.

“If it’s a ruse and your plan is to convince the elders in some other way, this is the time to tell me about it.”

Serit stared at her, their viss bubbling with many different emotions. She observed intently, ready to catch a lie.

“No,” they admitted in the end, and it was the truth. “I don't have another plan.”

Saia felt her anger grow. She summoned a wind and pushed it toward Serit. It wasn't enough to make them fall on its own, but the slight sideways movement of the platform helped in putting them out of balance. They dropped onto the floor, and Saia's wind pinned them there.

“Stop messing with the mountain,” she shouted, amplifying her voice. “There's my family there, my friends, hundreds of innocent people. If you take another god away, the mountain will collapse and they will die. I'll never allow you to do that.”

She could feel their fear in the way their viss buzzed, but she didn’t care. She needed not to care, now that there was so much more than just her life at stake.

She realized at that moment that they were alone, no birdguards around, and she had a plausible reason to threaten Serit. She just needed to push them a bit more, enough to make them think they were in actual danger. With a bit of luck, they would have tried to contact the guards, revealing how they could communicate.

But as much as the wind pressed them down, they just stared up at her, strands of hair whipping around in the wind, limbs paralyzed by fear. She needed to shake them out of their terror, so she started to form the pattern for slashing with the viss in her domain. She didn't want to hurt them, just cut their tunic a bit.

The platform jerked, startling Serit. Their eyes became more focused.

“We can discuss alternatives,” they started, while their hand reached down and entered one of their pockets.

It contained a small lantern and nothing else. Their fingers were about to close around it, so Saia snatched it out with another wind and took it instead. She let her domain return to the usual size, turning the lantern in front of her with the help of a small wind, without touching the surface directly. She didn’t notice anything weird about it, except maybe the sprite inside moving slower than the ones of the bigger lanterns.

“So this is it. How does it…?”

But a wave of viss hit her out of nowhere. She collapsed on the floor, her light turning blue, everything else suddenly dark.