"Of course, you can form a dual partnership and practice cultivation techniques with a Hindel. This isn't the same as forging a [Dao Companion] bond. You won't merge your cultivation and reproductive systems into a synergistic system supporting both sides. You will be sharing affinities."

"You probably will not gain anything new, you have a wealth of affinities as it stands, but you will be strengthening the ones you share in common during the process. And there is the possibility of unlocking a minor understanding of an affinity you don't have.

Your affinities with ice and lightning are unknown to the Hindel. That you might allow a dual partner to forge even a minor understanding of those affinities might be enough to impart that understanding within our people. We would focus on those affinities within a testing pod of Hindel, hoping we would see it blossom within our next generation of young," Alpha explained.

"How?" I asked.

I wasn't sure what methods the Hindel used for procreation. I knew they were serial polygamists, with the Alpha supplying the lion's share of genetic material. But the mechanics and adaptations that were optional had never been explained.

"The reason an Alpha can make another female consort has to do with essence control and adaption," Alpha began. "The genetic material of egg and sperm can be provided by anyone, but the essence, the traits, and characteristics a brood of offspring will develop can be influenced by blending the essence of multiple individuals.

"We have searched for and sourced talents that have stood the test of time. Because we have mastery over those talents, we often experiment with new adaptations and evolutions. This ability to experiment with how the genetic material is formed allows us to evolve more quickly with few adverse mutations in each breeding cycle.

"The person you select to form a dual partnership with will breed with multiple Alphas. It will take time, but we have that time when you consider how long we live. Any offspring born that awakens the ice or lightning affinity will be nurtured until we have enough people to form a Pod that will be supported until enough have been born to see them seeded across the oceans."

"Their ability to control their 'essence' is an example of spiritual control," Toi informed me through our contract bond. "They are harnessing the energies of the astral and manipulating the souls of their progeny before they are born. A type of genetic programming to emphasize energy patterns and paths that will allow their young to walk new paths of cultivation.

"I wouldn't be surprised to find that every Hindel is a Cultivator," Toi concluded.

"I'll be honest," I began hesitantly, "I'm honored that you would consider me for the first Elven Voice. And I'm also scared shit-less." I didn't often use course language, but I wanted Alpha to understand exactly how off-center her offer had left me.

The truth was that this didn't make sense. This offer was too good to pass up, and it came at a time when politics were quiet and my relationship with the Sect, although strained, was solid enough to continue using Contribution Hall.

How declaring my Sovereignty would affect that relationship would be a matter I discussed with Clement before I made any decision. The Hindel might be able to serve in place of the Contribution Hall to provide goods and resources. Maybe even martial and cultivation techniques. But they wouldn't be able to provide the people I was recruiting to expand my House and Fief.

I believed they had to have had their own Heavenly opportunities and Mystic Realms open that they could take advantage of. Although I did wonder what percentage of Mystic Realms that opened, opened into a water world where they could explore.

Now that they had developed a land movement technique using water as both a barrier and the vehicle for movement, any Realms that opened that they had been forced to ignore because of the environment should be open to them now.

"What is it, you fear?" Alpha asked.

"So many things," I admitted.

"The Empire is not benevolent. I warned the Empire and informed them that a Grand House had used hidden enchantments in the paper used for missives to spy on anyone they chose. They responded by sending a Prince, who was greedy and short-sighted. From what I have learned, he was willing to see any bounty we gained from our discovery beneath the Sect's lake diverted to the Empire.

"How they will react to my seceding will affect more than just me. I'm certain they will target my finances, denying me the yearly profits I have been granted from a spirit mine I discovered, the hidden realm beneath the lake, and the proceeds promised for innovations using the Golden Lodoicea plant.

"Clement is the strongest member of my House. And while his strength is formidable, he is only one person. If the Empire decides to send a detachment of Cultivators to bring me back in line, we will have to capitulate quickly.

"And that would probably mean my death. I have people that depend on me. A Spirit Companion. A Bonded Companion. A family. My death would have ramifications beyond just myself."

"You walk the path of cultivation," Alpha reminded me, "your very existence is a dance with death. Cultivators rail against the Heavens. You test death every time you withstand and suffer Heaven's tribulation to advance. With each advancement, the chance of failure and death is greater.

"So, if you are willing to chance death to ascend realms, why would you place more importance on this chance of death? Are you going to forsake advancing your cultivation, refuse to leave your city because the possibility of death exists?"

She was right. Maybe my fear wasn't the possibility of death; maybe it was the fear of isolation, of loneliness. I had left Flowing Water Sect because of the way they treated me. Wouldn't my decision to leave the Empire fall within that mold of reasoning? How were the Empire's actions any different than Flowing Water Sect?

"You also fail to understand the importance the Hindel will treat a Voice," Alpha continued, interrupting my musings.

"We will be more than allies. We will be family. Members of a family and alliance who will watch to see how you are treated. If the Empire refuses to honor the agreements you have earned. If they try to claim your assets and refuse to honor the agreements in place. We will ensure they know that the Hindel would be willing to act in kind.

"My pod will make the area along your coast a permanent part of our hunting grounds. The Hindel are nomads by nature. We move as the tide, and Qi draws us, but we do have areas that we prefer.

"The embassy that you built, that first underwater Pagoda that we first spoke at are already considered points of interest by my people. Knowing those buildings exist, their importance to how our people have gained balance with the Empire, and their location, has already filtered across our gestalt mind.

"You should be aware that the embassy will always be staffed with powerful individuals. Individuals that will see any attack on you or your territory as an attack on an ally and family member.

"And they will respond."

That response might come too late, but I reasoned that perhaps making it known who and how powerful the people stationed at the embassy were would have served as a deterrent.

The honor the Hindel were affording me, the chance to stand as Voice, was momentous. I didn't think I deserved it, and thoughts did flitter across my mind that I was only gaining this advantage because the AI that created and ran this world treated me like a Main Character.

I rarely gave thought to the world I came from anymore. Or that I was nothing but a series of 1's and 0's saved in the data banks of a Cloud Network that spanned solar systems. Reality was a matter of perception, and from my perspective, this world. This life was real. But when events like this occurred, I admit I wondered if I was nothing more than some story, a narrative created in the workings of a deluded author's mind.