At the same time, Aconite and Chidi turned to the south, behind them. “Did we miss something…?” Chidi asked. “What did you feel?”

Aconite shook her head. “I’m not sure.”

“Same here,” Chidi admitted. “Something distant, I think. We’ll have to be careful on the road back.”

So far they hadn’t encountered anyone else on their patrol, or more formations. However, they did see signs of passage. Even if they had been covered up, a large number of people had been through the area.

Aconite paced back and forth, perhaps trying to answer the same question Chidi had. Which way had they been going? If there were a single half complete print, the answer would have been resolved. Instead, what stood out as odd was how clean the area was. Some searching did let them pick out some important information.

“They must have passed here, approaching even closer to Koton,” Chidi declared.

Captain Tiras joined the two of them at their request. After they explained, he shared his opinion. “This seems like the sort of thing that needs an immediate report,” he said. Out came a communication device, the simple sort that only allowed messages in text form. Not Chidi’s favorite, obviously. “There. Done.”

“What was the response?” Chidi asked.

“... Nothing,” Captain Tiras admitted. “That’s a bit odd. Should have at least gotten a confirmation. Maybe it’s broken?” He held it out towards Chidi, “Do you know anything about the formations in these? Maybe take a look.”

Chidi took the palm sized object. He did know about them, especially the simple kind. They paired with another, either when they were created, or through some process later. The second kind obviously had to exist to communicate with the lower realms. It was a slow process, though.

The one he held in his hand should have gotten a message anywhere on the planet in an instant. “Probably paired to a single device. Maybe the other one is broken…?” Chidi shrugged. “Or they could be at lunch?”

“Yeah. Maybe,” Captain Tiras said. But they both knew that there should always be someone on-duty. It was just another sign of trouble. “Let’s turn around and head back. We’ve accomplished enough.”

After an hour on the road, Chidi frowned. He focused his senses, trying to take in any energy fluctuations. Unfortunately, he had correctly identified the source ahead. “Harmonious Citadel,” he said. Aconite growled in confirmation. By the time they even managed to turn around, Tiras and Denitsa were approaching. “Something approaching,” Chidi said. “Not too subtly, either.”

“We should engage,” Denitsa said, tapping her hammer.

“I’m not sure about that,” the man shook his head.

“What do you mean? They’re way inside our territory. We can’t just let them go.”

“That’s exactly it,” Captain Tiras pointed out. “They’re significantly inside our territory. And not being subtle about it. We might take them out, but I suggest we hide to watch them.”

“And then we ambush them,” Denitsa nodded.

“If it is appropriate, yes.”

Once the plan was decided upon, Aconite led the group off road while Chidi began to remove signs of their presence. Brushing away the tracks would be too obvious- no doubt there would be lingering energy just a few minutes later when the group arrived. Thus, he didn’t do much- just make sure there was nothing to obviously catch their attention, shifting a branch that had fallen to where it would cover the beginning of their trail. This area had high traffic, so prints on the road meant nothing, he just had to make them not think there was anything to follow. Or to not look to begin with.

He tiptoed deeper into the trees, knowing Aconite would pick somewhere that could not be seen from the road. Even with the entire squad hiding their energy, however, he could still feel them. Knowing where they were helped, but most people also weren’t trained for stealth. That even included the captain. Surprisingly enough, Denitsa was a bit more subtle than expected.

Chidi wished he’d spend more time with his mother studying ‘natural’ formations. That would be more subtle. Instead, he began pulling out formation flags. He needed to divert the flow of energy around their hiding place, while keeping their own energy nicely contained. Hopefully, nobody would be looking in their particular direction. If they had a formation expert of any kind, they’d likely notice the discrepancies. If Chidi had an hour or a day to set up he might be more certain of his efforts, but he could only do so much.

It was quiet. Unfortunately, that meant the birds were being roundabout traitors. Of course they would be quiet around Aconite. If humans weren’t enough to terrify them, a chest high wolf certainly would be.

Then again, a marching squad along the road might expect that same result for themselves. Hopefully they didn’t listen that carefully. Chidi crouched down, fairly certain that the layers of trees should be blocking him visually. Nobody said anything, as they waited- Denitsa and the captain in front.

Chidi felt three essence collection cultivators- not an insurmountable danger- but also a Life Transformation cultivator. And they were walking straight down the road, almost in sight of Koton. A Life Transformation cultivator was certainly formidable, but if they were spotted they would certainly be taken out. Something was very wrong.

Everyone held their breaths as the enemy passed- everyone except Chidi and Aconite. Keeping their breath steady and careful would prevent… the more powerful deep breaths of relief that fortunately didn’t attract attention to their group. The enemy continued down the road.

“We shouldn’t continue along the road,” Captain Tiras said after they had determined it was safe. “Lead us closer to Koton, a more circuitous route might be better.”

Chidi nodded. He’d studied the terrain in the area, and as they were all cultivators they could handle rough terrain. They wouldn’t have to deal with anything crazier than some steep hills. Actually… “There’s a hill nearby we should be able to spot the city from.” He remembered passing by it… and hills were apparently one way to extend the distance of sight. Being high up meant fewer things in the way.

After grabbing his formation flags, Aconite once more plodded ahead of the group, with Chidi keeping everyone on her trail. Chidi was confident his friend would detect any trouble on the way, and being somewhat ahead would be helpful.

Soon, they reached the top of the hill he mentioned.

There was a sharp intake of breath from the captain, as well as some general swearing throughout the squad.

“... What is it?” Chidi asked.

“The Citadel’s flags fly on Koton,” the captain said with resolve. “There’s nowhere to return to.”

-----

After seemingly forever, though in some ways almost too soon, Torthunes was under attack. Catarina was glad that they would be able to make use of all the work that had gone into the formations, but concerned because intel suggested there were three saints present. Those of the axe, morningstar, and shield.

The specific individuals were not the concern. Rather, it was that the Harmonious Citadel continued to consolidate their forces. The three of them represented a third of the sect’s might, more or less. They wouldn’t have quite that much with them, lesser cultivators especially, but this would be a serious test of the Scarlet’s Alliance’s ability to fight head on. They’d been lucky to get the opportunity to hunt down a single saint before. Now, things would be more difficult.

That wasn’t to disparage Tauno- he’d been instrumental in killing Tisiphone. But he was just one man. They had few Augmentation cultivators to rely upon. The One Thousand Palm Sect had Prasad- but he was not on Torthunes. They would have to hold out for him to arrive, or for some from the Dark Ring or elsewhere in the Scarlet Alliance.

Catarina looked at Timothy. “How long has it been since we fought anyone with greater cultivation than ourselves?”

“It was the first invasion. Somewhere around two centuries, at least for the two of us specifically..”

“That’s right,” Catarina nodded. “It just reminds me of much earlier, when you broke through in combat.”

“Can’t say that will happen this time, I’m afraid,” Timothy shook his head.

“I wasn’t counting on it,” she admitted. “Besides, we just need to make certain we don’t end up in a fair fight. There are only three of them. If we’re lucky, one will be entrapped, Tauno will deal with another, and a group of us can take on the third.”

“Your formations can really hold an Augmentation cultivator?” Timothy asked. Catarina just looked at him. “What? You need a huge power source for something like that.”

“It will last an hour,” she said, looking over the planet, which at the current moment involved the area around them turning into a boiling red mist. “A bit less or more, depending on the time of day and the ambient energy available. Assuming we actually can lure them in.”

“If you need me,” Timothy said, “I’ll be the best bait you could ever want.”

She smiled, “While you could certainly lure me in… I’m not sure about the saints. But perhaps if you show off that shield, we might get the shield saint Eterna interested.”

-----

All around Anton, people were unhappy. However, considering nobody had yet stormed off from the negotiations he could say they were so far successful. Nobody from Tenoun’a wanted to admit they were in the wrong, and nobody from Shrenn wanted to forgive them on any level. What they could agree upon were certain logistical changes, more or less Shrenn bribing Tenoun’a to stay away with fewer resources than would normally be forcefully taken. Anton would make up the rest with his supplies.

That would last all of a season, but Anton hoped he could sway both sides to go further. He would have to stay to monitor the situation for more than a few seasons, however. He had better crops for both planets, but the last thing he wanted was to make them both more able to properly wage war with each other. Or at least, not if they still wanted to.

Perhaps it was a pipe dream, to think he could resolve their problems. Even with the help of people back home for both advice and resources, and even if both sides truly wanted change. Sometimes, people found themselves in situations that were nearly impossible to overcome.

Aurelianus pulled Anton aside after another long and boring meeting. “I have some concerns.”

“So does everyone,” Anton sighed. “What was it, that could not be raised in official proceedings? I assure you, the crops-”

“Are not my concern, for the moment. I am willing to see how that plays out.”

“So…?” Anton drew out the question.

“It is a very delicate matter for Tenoun’a,” the man said, looking around them- though they were already covering their conversation with a field of energy to prevent it from being overheard. Anton waited for him to continue. “I was approached by Aleksandra.”

“Sounds like an internal matter,” Anton said. “But continue.”

“She was not pleased about being assigned an administrative role.”

“Was that not what you were already doing?” Anton asked.

“Some of us… put in more work,” he said delicately. “Others…”

“Prefer to sit around threateningly at the top of the food chain?”

“More or less.”

“What do you want?” Anton asked. “I doubt Shrenn would offer more concessions. And I will not allow this to be an opportunity for people to fill their pockets regardless.”

“I don’t know,” Aurelianus admitted. “Our current state is unsustainable, despite what people seem to think. I understand that. It just seems that the deal might be refused, if a few influential players don’t want to go along with it. And I’d rather not be involved in the fallout.”

“You think people will resort to violence?”

“It is the natural state for cultivators. You know that. It’s why you are trying so hard to prevent it. Even your own life is fragile, here in this place.”

“I can’t do much but keep my eyes and ears open,” Anton said. “But I appreciate the warning.”

He looked up at the star. Should he just…? No, he didn’t want people to end up distrusting all outsiders. Especially not with himself as the reason.