Rory took his time in writing out the message properly. He had recruited the help of Viv, Dez, April, and Diane to help him figure out what exactly they should put in there in terms of demands.

The first thing they had to settle on was what exactly they were offering in return for what they needed from the Mirrorend Homeworlders. After some talk, they decided it would amount to providing services in exchange for Mana. They had confirmed with Sylvia and Shen that Mana was the main currency in Mirrorend.

It made sense since the old kinds of monetary exchanges didn’t matter. Rory was curious who determined how much Mana something was worth.

“How does this sound?” Rory said.

He began reading out what he’d written so far.

To Whom It May Concern,

I’m writing to you as a formal proposition to establish a trading deal and/or business partnership. In summary, my business will be providing various services regarding Sigils, including but not limited to creating Sigils from both base ingredients and from objects, combining Sigils to create new ones, improving current Sigils, and infusing Sigils into existing objects. The business will be centered in Hillhard.

The following details the services I’d be happy to provide, and what I’d charge in return for them. All Mana amounts are denoted by the system.

Services to be provided:

1 Sigil created (via Weaving) from any object, creature, etc. for 200 Mana for Ordinary rarity, with each higher rarity requiring an extra 200 Mana (so a Legendary Sigil would cost 1,200 Mana). 1 Sigil created (via Weaving) from base ingredients for 200 Mana for Ordinary rarity, with each higher rarity requiring an extra 200 Mana. If required materials are not provided, an extra 100 Mana will be charged per ingredient I need to obtain myself. 1 Sigil created (via Weaving) from any Sigil use for 100 Mana for Ordinary rarity, with each higher rarity requiring an extra 100 Mana (so a Legendary Sigil would cost 600 Mana). 1 Sigil infused (via Warding) into any object for 100 Mana for Ordinary rarity, with each higher rarity requiring an extra 100 Mana. The cost of any service not listed here is subject to the provider’s judgement

I hope the services outlined here will work for you. I am open to negotiating as you see fit, while keeping up a baseline that I deem is worthy of my efforts.

Please not that I retain the ultimate decision whether to perform a certain task for ALL services, listed or otherwise. However, rest assured that I will see any task I do take up to a conclusion I judge is satisfactory.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Regards,

Rory McIlroy

He wished he could have added something about the Tiers the Sigils he produced were at. Unfortunately, since he couldn’t control what Tiers his Sigils came out in, the point was moot.

“I can see why you spent the better part of an hour writing the whole thing,” Viv said.

Rory smiled at her. “I wanted it to be good. But I’ll take it as approval, then.”

“I still don’t know if you’re undercharging or not,” Dez said. “Like, is 100 mana really enough? What if they’re happy to spend that amount and throw us a bunch of things?”

“Well, we can’t know until we’ve actually tried it, can we?”

Viv tapped the paper the letter was written on. “Put in a little line like you might change the price depending on circumstances.”

“That sounds… sleazy.”

“You’re a freelancer, dear. I think it’s normal for them to raise their prices after they’ve garnered some experience and can guarantee they provide good products.”

“Hmm, I guess that’s fair.” Once Rory had put in the addendum, he looked around at the others. “Anything else?”

They considered for a while. Viv snapped the fingers of her remaining hand all of a sudden.

“I think it might be a good thing to specifically outline something saying that we intend to remain a neutral party in this war,” she said. “That we aren’t interested in its outcome and don’t intend to participate in it or perform any task that directly relates to it.”

Rory lowered his voice. They were in the main hall on the ground floor, and though the Homeworlders weren’t nearby, he still couldn’t help but look around. “That means we’d have to tell them we’re open to working the Otherworlders.”

“Not necessarily. Who we work with isn’t any of their business, and if they want to read between the lines, that’s on them.”

Rory wasn’t sure he agreed, but it was a good point that the Homeworlders would be concerned that he wasn’t joining their side, as proven by Shen and Sylvia. They’d want to know why. It was hairy enough that he was already “helping” them by healing some of their members, an action that some of the Otherworlders might take exception to. But he didn’t intend to compromise on his morals, no matter what any of them thought.

“I think I’ll add a simple line,” Rory said, then began reading as he wrote. “We are aware of the war between the Homeworlders and the Otherworlders, but we wish to remain a neutral party in the conflict. As such, we are not open to any attempts to recruit us into any sides, nor will we be performing any services that will directly affect the conflict itself.”

It was all talk, of course. No doubt, most Sigil services the Homeworlders would request—and likely the Otherworlders too—would be used to help their war effort. Rory couldn’t help where the effect of his services was used. All he could do was provide the same level of service to both sides.

“I think that should be good enough,” Viv said.

Bo grunted his agreement. “And if things go wrong, we can take it from there.”

“Right you are.” Rory folded the letter carefully and tucked it into a pocket in his jacket. “I’ll go give this to the Homeworlders.” He smiled. “We’re on our way to get the business set up. Exciting times!”

The Homeworlders accepted the letter. Sylvia, Shen, and Linus, who had finally woken up, all went over the content of Rory’s missive together. They seemed to not mind anything Rory had written down, which was good enough.

Afterwards, they all had dinner. They’d been impressed by the tour they had received so far, especially so by the traps Rory had worked all over the place and the other clever uses of Sigils everywhere. At the same time, for a group who had no intentions of fighting any more than they needed to, their Sigils were all at decently high Tiers.

Of course, they didn’t match that of the Otherworlders. Sylvia had refrained from giving out any information about their Sigils so far, but after some bragging and a slip of the tongue, Linus had revealed that his main Sigil’s Tier was well into Teal. That was something none of them had hit yet. Sylvia had reluctantly admitted that her Sigil was at Viridian, which was the next Tier.

It made sense, when Rory thought about it. These people were part of a war effort. Of course, they’d want their Sigils to be as powerful as they could make them. They needed their Sigils to perform at a level where they could overwhelm their Otherworlder enemies, who no doubt had strong Sigils and the knowledge to use them as effectively as possible.

Rory wondered once more what made a Plane Ruler so convinced they could win. The Otherworlders had the superiority of both knowledge and power. How much could the Homeworlders really compete against that?

But then, the way the people of Mirrorend had responded to the apocalypse confirmed there was more going on behind the scenes than was easily visible. Rory was certain Sylvia had hidden some interesting things and was likely unaware of even more going on in the background.

For the moment, though, Rory decided not to worry about it. He was there to have food, after all.

With dinner taken care of, they found a place where the Homeworlders could rest. They had all decided it was best not to start travelling in the middle of the night, so they’d wait until daybreak to head out. Of course, they still didn’t fully trust the Homeworlders. Trish was more than happy to guide them to a spot near where she slept with Allen. Rory assigned a couple of others to sleep nearby for the night to keep watch too.

If the Homeworlders suspected anything, they didn’t let on. Rory appreciated their willingness to silently comply with their hosts’ wishes, strange though it might seem.

That night, there was no excitement as there had been the night before. No brilliant flashes of light or thumping booms in the distance indicated any battles going on anywhere.

“Both sides have fallen back,” Sylvia explained as the reasoning behind the momentary lack of warfare. “There will be probes and pushes until one side makes a proper thrust. That’s when things will get properly interesting. For now, it’s still a test-the-waters phase.”

Dez was nodding along as though he had expected nothing different, and it made sense to Rory as well. Only after knowing the enemy’s true capabilities would a side feel confident enough to launch a proper assault.

Despite the lack of external excitement, they had their own to contend with inside the palace.

“She’s up!” Vern exclaimed late at night when most people were either already asleep or were in the process of going to bed. “Sue! She’s awake.”

Rory had stayed up to keep Viv company, who had been going over her list of watch rotations to make up for the lack of people. They both looked up at Vern, eyes wide and breath caught in their throats.

Somehow, Rory swallowed down the gulp of air and hurried after Vern to the infirmary. Evelyn, who had fallen asleep earlier, was blearily rubbing her eyes as she joined them.

“Sue!” Rory said. “Welcome back.”

He and the others knelt by her side. She was still lying on her back, still wrapped in golden bandages all over. But her eyes were partially open. She smiled when she saw them.

“Hi,” Sue said.

Rory smiled. It was an honest miracle that she was not only alive, but also conscious and energetic enough to talk.

But he couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of pain she was going through at the moment.

May had joined them too. She was kneeling on the other side of her sister, holding her hand tightly. With agonizing slowness, Sue turned her head to meet May’s fond gaze. There were tears in her eyes. Rory wanted to give them some space, but something about the situation felt urgent to him.

Sue made him understand when her eyes landed on him. “I don’t want to be stuck like this.”

Her voice was faint and weak, a reflection of the condition of the rest of her body. Rory glanced at Evelyn and Vern with a silent question. The happy, relieved expressions on their face were melting away at an alarming rate.

“How do you feel, Sue?” Evelyn asked. All traces of her drowsiness had vanished.

“I can’t move my right leg or my right arm. Thinking makes my head hurt.” She paused for a moment, gathering her breath. “Even talking… I can’t do it for long.”

She went silent, as did the rest of them. Sue might be conscious and speaking, but she was far from fine. If anything, she was no closer to being healed than before.

“But I still want to fight,” Sue said, summoning a heavy ferocity in her voice.

“You’re in no condition to do any such thing,” Viv said. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Sue needed some time before she could answer. “Not yet maybe. But at some point. I’ll heal enough to… be conscious, even if I can’t move like before. I don’t want to be a burden then. Maybe… maybe there’s a wheelchair or something like that I can use.”

Rory found himself looking away. A burden. Was she really worried about being a burden to others, or was she more worried about looking after May in her current condition? He hadn’t missed her worried glances at her sister.

“We’ll find something,” Rory promised. “You just need to focus on healing up and getting better first.”

Sue blinked slowly, as though it was a substitute for a nod. “I will. What’s going on outside?”

They took turns telling her the story since the battle with the Thunderclaw Knight. Rory explained how they were recovering from the assault and were making sure something similar never happened again. He also mentioned how he was focusing more on establishing his merchant business officially.

Viv explained how the war between the Homeworlders and the Otherworlders had begun, and that they’d even entertained their first contingent of Homeworlders. Evelyn gave her a short report on how the healing efforts were going.

None of them told her about all the ones who had died. That wasn’t the best kind of talk in an infirmary.

When it was finally time to leave and let Sue continue to recover, Rory reached forward and placed a hand on hers. “Sue. Don’t worry about anything, understand? We’ll look after May, and we’ll make sure you and your sister are protected. No one here is a burden. Ever. Am I clear? Once you heal up, you might be able to find new ways to contribute. But please don’t be too down. You’re more valuable than what you can or can’t do with your Sigil.”

Sue was crying softly by the time Rory had finished talking. But there was as smile along with her tears, and Rory smiled embracingly at her.

He left with the others soon afterwards, but he wasn’t sure he was going to get much sleep. Not when his thoughts would be filled with how he could help Sue some more.