Legate Iola Melanthos Brygos heaved a sigh of relief. Tribunus Kaspar delivered a load of Nyctferrum items, mostly odds and ends as well as a ceremonial dagger from the Kinnocks, and a statuette from the Esras. All told, that was just under a Jin of pure Nyctferrum. She had to smelt the impurities out of it, but thankfully, the metal had a higher melting point than iron and steel, so a simple application of heat was enough to slough away the dross.

She reshaped the resulting Nyctferrum into needles and brought them inside the Gemheart’s matrix world, after which, she used the needles to stab into the corrosion and slowly drive them back.

It was the work of days, no weeks, to get to this point. The Gemheart was mostly pure again, with only a wide circular spot, about a pace in diameter, marring its perfection. Even as she watched, tendrils of darkness attempted to escape the barrier she made around the spot. The tentacle of darkness began dissipating before it even got a pace away from the spot, and Iola blasted the remnants with her Animus.

At this point, she traded a dozen lumens of superdense, crystalline Animus for every inch of inky darkness. She could recover her reserves by activating her Domain and forcefully convert ambient Chaos into crystals, and from there, into Animus. It took a level of focus that was easy enough to sustain as long as she wasn’t distracted.

The Nyctferrum needles slowly degraded away, and she estimated that it would take several weeks before this batch needed to be refreshed. The ongoing battle had been hard, and Iola was exhausted. She took her rest as often as she could, but even if she could stay awake for weeks on end, this wasn’t the Chaos Sea. She still needed to spend a few minutes every day in silent meditation in lieu of sleep.

She estimated another couple of Jin more of Nyctferrum would be needed to drive away the Watcher’s taint. The Chaos Duke wasn’t always connected to his taint, and she rallied the Gemheart whenever his connection wavered. As a result, things were far less dire than she expected. Now, if only Legate Jiro Segawa and the Legion Vagaris returned soon. That, or the Legion Praemus that was in charge of protecting the weekly Arkships that plied the routes between the Imperial planes would break through the Chaos Courts’ blockade of Rumiga.

Any Knight Dominus would be welcome reinforcements and it was only a matter of time before they arrived and made Rumiga safe once again.

_________

It took a few days of wrangling, discussion, and planning, but the overall plan for their infiltration was in place. Yuriko bounced on her toes excitedly as she did her morning ablutions. Her Anima rolled around the room, bumping into things then setting them upright again. Her reach could cover several rooms within her house, and could perceive and interact with things even through closed doors. It helped her take care of her brother back when he still had trouble getting around, though now, she reined in her Anima only to the room she was in.

She was rather excited to leave Faron’s Crossing. Her mission was important, she reminded herself. Without finding and stopping the glut of nameless Chaos Lords, the Empire in Rumiga would be overrun. Without news from the eastern front, they didn’t know how bad the Ivalan aggression was. Veran didn’t know more than what he already revealed afterall, but if the Frozen Camp battle group had been redirected to the south rather than back up north, then things must be bad.

“Maybe the Ivalans are getting nameless reinforcements, too,” she muttered to herself.

Well, anyway. The idea of seeing more of Rumiga was quite enthralling. She’d been to several planes but in her home plane, she’d only been to Rumiga City and the North. The south, Federation territory, was several times larger than the Empire in Rumiga, even if most of their territory was wildlands and barren deserts. Oh, and ocean. She couldn’t forget about the only ocean in Rumiga. It was where all rivers flowed, north to south.

In any case, today was the day they would leave Faron’s Crossing. As for the group that would come with her, well, there was Sheamus Dorn, who was the eldest looking amongst them and would act as the leader. Gwendith, who refused to be left behind. Desire who was necessary to look for and detect the nameless. Heron, who volunteered to come, but Yuriko would have asked him along anyway so she could initiate his Chaos Baptism as soon as she was ready.

Asami, who was Gwendith’s cousin, insisted on coming as well. Her Facet, which was the ability to see and communicate through the wind’s whispers would be handy, and since there was no way Finan would come, hers was the only Facet that could fit the Controller role. And finally, Braden and Orrin Foster know some contacts within the city-state of Haveena, owing to their mercantile background. Not that there wasn't anyone else with that kind of background within Faron’s Crossing. There were hundreds, actually, but only the twins wanted to risk their lives. And Saki, of course.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Her lustrous golden hair had an intrinsic glow that was hard to ignore, even discounting her Mien. She had to be on the mission, but she knew that she would be hard pressed to avoid attention. Not if she went without preparation.

First. Her hair was too eye-catching. Even in a high ponytail, the tip would brush past her bottom. If she let it down all the way, it would reach just above her knees. So. First thing was to make her hair much less obvious. So she braided it. Tight and complex enough that the tip would only reach down to her waist and it would be simplicity itself to hide it under her coat.

Next. Her Mien. She had to restrict it as much as possible. Uhm. That wasn’t quite possible though. ‘The best I can do is prevent people from seeing my face,’ she thought. And for that, she needed a new wardrobe.

Haveenians, and the Federation in general, had a different cultural attire and fashion sense from the Empire. She didn’t need to worry about it now, but when they crossed the border wearing Imperial clothing, especially forceweave, then that would be a dead giveaway. Oh, but the council would provide the clothing, so she didn’t need to get anything else ready.

Hmm, that was it, probably. Ehehe.

With her hair in a tight braid, she walked out of her bedroom, and headed down for breakfast. They would gather in the town center at midmorning, which was still a couple of hours away.

Rami and Ryoko were fixing breakfast, which, to no one’s surprise, was still ration bar porridge. Except…was that a bit of spring onions and sliced radishes in there? Nine weeks of deprivation and being forced to subsist on ration bar cuisine, except for the few times the Moonlit Night Cafe served actual food, made even that odd combination look delicious.

“Young mistress, please reconsider,” Ryoko asked plaintively. “You need me to care for you in your travels! Saki isn’t enough!”

Yuriko shook her head and sighed. “This isn’t a vacation, Ryoko. We’re posing as refugees. Having you wait hand and foot on me will give us away. Besides, I’d prefer if you remained here and took care of Marron and Rami.”

“Hey!” her little brother protested. “I’m a strong independent young man. I can take care of myself!” Rami protested, except his voice broke in the latter half of his statement, prompting his face to redden.

Rami turned thirteen years old a couple of weeks ago, and will go through the Atavism Ritual come the 1st Day of Fire. She clapped a hand on his shoulder and already had to reach a bit higher up. He was just a little bit taller than she was now, and she didn’t know whether to be proud or annoyed. Hmph!

“But, young mistress!” Ryoko protested.

“It’s fine, Ryoko,” Yuriko said placatingly. “You stay here and be safe, alright?”

“Yes, young mistress,” Ryoko sniffed.

“How long do you expect to be gone?” Marron asked from across the dining table. He and Niamh were eating together and Yuriko noted the spark of amusement in his eyes.

“Who knows?” Yuriko shrugged. “Hopefully we’ll return before the Atavism Ritual.”

“Here’s to that,” Marron raised a cup of kaf. “Good fortune, little sis. Try not to leave a trail of broken hearts that’ll lead them directly to you.”

“Hmph!”

“Hie, hie.”

She arrived at the town center after breakfast, about an hour before their call time. She brought her travelling gear, the clothes, the backpack, safe pouch, and hip satchel. She had a utility knife sheathed on her belt, as well as a combat knife strapped to her calf. She thought about leaving her arming sword, the Arclight blade, back home but remembered that those people from Garamus that she encountered in Synkrasia probably brought the relic weapons and armour up to the surface. She somewhat regretted not taking those with her, but her priority back then was coming back home. She didn’t know about the increased hostilities between Rumiga City and the Federation, which somewhat explained why Lucian had been so hostile.

She definitely left her Plasma Lancet. Handheld plasma weaponry was a specialty of the Empire and few nations outside of its borders made regular use of it. Sure, the Haveenians may have a couple of Plasma Casters or Lancets, but definitely not the refugees they would pose as.

She left most of her coins deposited within the Imperial Bank, and requested an exchange of Shekels, the Federation’s coinage. A couple of gold marks gave her nearly four thousand Shekels. The official exchange rate was one Sovereigns to two Shekels, but the bank gave it at one to one point nine. So, uh, three thousand eight hundred? It was all in little round coins with square holes in the middle, with Wojan numerals etched on one face. The largest denomination was only at a hundred Shekels, and she was given coins worth one, twenty five, fifty, and a hundred Shekels' worth. There should have been those worth less than a Shekel but the bank didn’t carry any.

She secured the more valuable coins into her safe pouch, leaving only a hundred Shekels in her coin purse.

After her business was done, it was call time.

Saki had materialised from the shadows and was clad in her usual attire. She gave Yuriko a saucy wink then vanished. Yuriko rolled her eyes, and looked at her team. Sheamus Dorn wasn’t in his usual attire, which had been distinctly Imperial in nature. Then again, he’d been living around Coltherstone Fortress for a decade or so. Now, he was clad in drab brown clothing, including a large outer garment that covered most of his arms and torso. It tapered down the front, with the narrow triangular tip dangling just above his knees. It also had a hood that he had over his head.

As soon as he saw her, he spread his arms and spun slowly around. “Like my poncho? It’s a traditional Cheldan garb, though its usually dyed in bright colours. Your boys over there tell me this is typical garb for Haveenian civilians.”

“It looks heavy and warm,” Yuriko admitted.

“It would, if it didn’t have vents and wasn’t made out of light cloth.” Sheamus shrugged. “It’s nowhere near as tough as Forceweave so be careful if you have to fight in it. Though you shouldn’t need to.” He gestured towards the hall. “Women wear different garments so go get changed.”

She found Gwendith and Asami in a room and already changed into their clothes. Both of them wore a poncho, but of a different style than Sheamus and the other boys did. For one thing, the bottoms hung lower and the entire thing looked more like a dress, and the hem was square rather than triangular. It was still in drab brown, but was decorated with tassels on the edges. Both wore wide trousers underneath, with the bottoms tucked into high boots. Gwendith gestured towards a pile of clothing and Yuriko got changed.

Off white short sleeved shirt. Those same wide trousers, and then the boots. They were comfortable but looked drab. Her poncho was a bit roomier than hoodies, and was quite cozy. Ah, she had her backpack under the poncho, essentially hiding it from view. Thankfully, her gear was slim enough that it didn’t look that odd.

There were several changes of clothing, which fit easily into her gear. She left her forceweave outer garments behind though she kept her underclothes as it was rather unlikely that anyone would see them. Anyway, other than the cloth, the style was similar enough to the Federation’s that it wouldn’t matter.

“We’ll be walking towards the Zarek for a couple of leagues before angling south,” Gwendith said as they exited the hall. Centurion Veran Jake and his Chainbreaker Century were assembled in the square.

“Are you and your team ready, Knight Davar?” he asked perfunctorily.

“Yes.”

“Excellent. Let us proceed.”

They took their positions in the middle of the formation and marched out of the square, and soon enough, exited the town.