“I know you don’t have a background in politics, so I’ll try to simplify this for you,” Vaozey said, looking off at the birds in the pond again. “You might have been wondering why Mawyeyz was allowed to be in charge of the city, considering where he stands on the whole ‘Rehvite’ issue, right?” The thought had occurred to me, but I assumed there was a reason.

“He’s not aligned to Zihzehshesk,” I replied.

“That wasn’t it,” Vaozey huffed. “No, to put it simply it was because he was the only one fit for the job.” She then went on to explain how, during the siege of the city and subsequent conquering, every single official and noble was either killed or imprisoned because they were all in on the rebellion. Technically, Mawyeyz was only supposed to be in charge until Pehrihnk could find someone to take the reins from him, but every single person they suggested ended up being against them. “They even offered me the job, if you can believe it,” Vaozey scoffed. “I told them they could seyt themselves.”

“You have no interest in leadership?” I asked.

“None at all,” she replied. “I didn’t even want the rank I have now, but again, politics.”

“That’s Zownayveht, right?” I asked. “I’m not aware of how Uwrish military ranks work.”

“Zownayveht is two full ranks above kehpveht,” Vaozey explained, turning back to me and leaning forward. “It’s the highest rank for ‘land-based combat magic specialists’, and it’s also a nobility title. There are actually some technicalities around that. Normally, a Zownayveht should be somebody like R’vaajh Tahyn, but the position has been empty for a while in our army. We don’t fight many land wars, really, so it’s seen as a bit of a relic.”

“So you’re in charge of a group of lower-ranked kehpveht?” I inquired, trying to figure out the command structure. Vaozey just cackled quietly to herself for a few seconds before replying.

“No,” she said. “Someone who is a kehpveht in command of other kehpveht is a Shaeveht, and there are only a couple dozen of them in the country. Shaeveht is a military rank, Zownayveht is a nobility rank that is technically above non-noble ranks but doesn’t necessarily imply a higher military rank. All of our Shaeveht are under the direct command of Pehrihnk’s noble assembly, who also double as the leaders of the regular army.” There are… a number of organizational problems with that, I thought, and Vaozey seemed to read my thoughts. “Yes, it’s stupid,” she sighed.

“Are any of them here?” I asked.

“What do you think?” Vaozey asked back, and I sighed in return.

“It’s shocking that you haven’t been defeated already, given the numbers the enemy put forward,” I said.

“Yeah, well, there are extenuating circumstances around that too,” Vaozey replied. “That brings us back to politics. Anyway, so, Mawyeyz gets the city because I refused to do it and everyone else lost their head or got thrown in the nahloymahlthayao. He also made an agreement about how Rehvites would be handled in the city: They could either follow his doctrine or they could be willingly imprisoned, and his doctrine… changed a bit over the years.”

“He’s still a Rehvite though,” I said.

“Try not to use that word around him,” Vaozey advised. “Mawyeyz is a Rehveyzm, not a Rehvaem, and so are all of the people in this city who believe in Rehv, at least officially.” I furrowed my brow, trying to figure out what she meant. It’s like the difference between a ‘Rehvite’ and “Rehvist’, I thought with a grunt, One implies belonging, the other implies adherence.

“Seems semantic,” I shrugged.

“Rehvists don’t deny the existence of other gods, and don’t believe in ‘detested’ people,” Vaozey explained. “According to them, they follow the original version of Rehv’s teachings which is all about acknowledging the flaws of human beings and working to overcome them to create a better world. Not that the Rehvites would say any different, but the Rehvists want to do it without branding and murdering people and they’re fine with their god being considered a minor deity. Oh, and they can’t hold political office except for Mawyeyz, at least until the war is over.”

“And this difference is what makes Mawyeyz’s version of the religion acceptable to Pehrihnk?” I asked.

“Officially? Yes,” Vaozey said. “Unofficially, I think about three-quarters of the idiots in Pehrihnk were either Rehvites themselves or in bed with them. It was only after they got their asses kicked at Kahvahrniydah that opinions started changing, and they’re going to use this ‘Rehvist’ movement to avoid responsibility for their screwups when their allegiances get outed. Practically, we have a bunch of ‘tame’ Rehvites and because of that we don’t have to wipe this city off the map and can afford to deal with bigger issues.”

“If they were already allied to the Rehvites though, why not just give them the city?” I asked.

“Because the second the sovereignty of Uwriy is seen as unstable there are half a dozen countries who are going to make a land grab,” Vaozey growled. “That’s actually half the problem we have right now: We have a limited amount of time to get this conflict solved before everyone from here to Iynahfehn gets sick of waiting and just makes a move, political consequences be damned.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I said, frowning. “Why wait? The country is in turmoil now, it would be best to strike now. Waiting gives you time to prepare.”

“You really don’t understand politics,” Vaozey laughed harshly. “Anyway, ambassadors from Dahmpiyah showed up at our shores just after the city was re-taken, and they’ve been kicking about ever since. It’s obvious what they’re doing, they’re just waiting to see if we win or lose and preparing to take the winning side, but we can’t get rid of them without causing a serious incident. The other thing is, as much as I hate it, they’re the ones funding us right now.”

“Because Pehrihnk is broke, or unwilling?” I asked.

“Both, but officially the reason is that they can’t transport the money safely to us due to piracy by Zihzehshesk. It’s a bunch of crap, I mean how would they have gotten the Navy here to help take the city if it was such an issue, right? But still, that’s the story. They’ve been paying for our gear and importing what we need for years now while we rack up debt to them.”

“So they have an interest in keeping the war running for as long as they can,” I surmised.

“Right,” Vaozey agreed, “but they can’t run it out too long or else everyone else is going to start snagging pieces of their dinner. They’ve wanted to regain ownership of ‘West Dahmpiyah’ ever since we split off from them but they don’t want to fight us if they can avoid it, nor do they want to fight half the world to keep us.” So they’re using an economic attack, I thought, if they make Uwriy indebted to them, they can demand land in return for payment since Pehrihnk lacks funds. The idea was still a bit ridiculous to me since it depended entirely on all sides agreeing not to break arbitrary rules, but I assumed the Dahmpiyahns knew the Uwrish well enough to consider the tactic viable.

“I’m assuming you’re telling me all of this for a reason,” I said, getting another laugh out of Vaozey.

“You, as an ihlzheyv, are a politically important figure,” she explained. “Thus, you will be coming with me to meet with various representatives tonight and explaining some of what you told me just now to them. Then you’ll have to sit back and not kill everybody as they argue about what to do about it.”

“Why would I kill them?” I asked.

“Trust me, by the end of the night, you’ll want to kill them as much as I do,” Vaozey assured me. “Now, I have to go deal with a few things. You stay here for now, just relax in the house until I get back. You can train a bit if you want, feel free to grab some of the weapons I have out back, I never use them anyway. Just make sure you have some clean clothes on by sundown, no need to antagonize anybody by making them wait.”

When Vaozey had said she never used the weapons she had behind her house, I assumed she was exaggerating, but when I opened up the armory cabinet I could tell before I even pulled the first sword from its sheath that it was brand new. After looking around for a bit I finally found a saber, not unlike my old sword but thinner and lighter, that fit my hand well and felt good to swing. With nothing better to do, I went over to the equally pristine wooden training dummy nearby and began to chop away at it. It wasn’t really training, I could have split the dummy in two and broken the sword in a single swing if I wanted to, but it was oddly relaxing.

If only I could make the laser pointer stronger, I thought as I slowly stepped through a few motions, imagining the dummy to be Yaavtey swinging his axes at me and striking between his attacks, All of the new possibilities this human-style magic opens up are severely hampered by how costly it is. If I could get half a dozen kilojoules of energy in a pulse, then rapidly cycle pulses, I could probably tear through the eyes and into the- I stopped completely, mid-swing, and almost groaned aloud. Laser weapons on Earth were usually used for quietly killing unarmored targets or taking down missiles, but I forgot one of their less common uses that also required much less energy.

Summoning up my magic I began the mock fight again, but this time in between my swings I started trying to briefly flash a laser dot onto the dummy’s head. Every time I did it I felt a small rush of power flow out of me, but so long as I kept the power low and the duration short it wasn’t overly taxing, no more than using force magic to throw an object. My accuracy was fairly poor at first, prompting me to go up and burn two eyes into the surface of the dummy’s head so I had a good way of grading where I was shooting. Over the course of thirty minutes, my single-point accuracy reached one hundred percent, and that was when I began trying to make two points at once.

Most magic wanted to use the point that its user was looking at as a manifestation by default, at least for humans. If the lasers were being manifested inside of my opponent’s eyes, that would have been useful, but the range limit on magic meant that I was actually creating the laser near a point on my body and then giving it a vector to point down. It was a lot like pointing with my finger, mentally speaking, and doing two at once was like pointing at two points with the index of both hands while looking at just one. Another ten minutes later I could consistently flash both eyes on the dummy with red dots whenever I pleased, manifesting the lasers from anywhere around my head I so chose.

“Would you like some help there?” someone asked, and I realized I was so caught up in testing out my new technique that I didn’t even hear one of the servants approaching. She was older, perhaps seventy or eighty, but not old enough for her magic to not render her as mobile as a young woman. Reminds me of that man at Aavspeyjh’s mansion, was the first thing I thought when I saw the way the woman was standing.

“I’m just waiting until the meeting tonight,” I said, hoping she hadn’t seen the laser technique. Aside from the point at which they intersected something, magic lasers were entirely invisible, so it was likely she had missed the dim red dots. “How long have you been watching?”

“Just a minute or two,” the woman said. “I hope you’ll not mind the observation, but you appear rather uncomfortable with that weapon.” What a polite way to say I lack swordsmanship skill, I thought.

“My old one was a lot heavier,” I said. “As for the technical aspects of sword fighting, I’ve never really been that good.”

“Yes, the tragedy of those with magical power to spare,” the woman smiled. “Miss Svaaloyweyl is the same.”

“I haven’t seen her fight much since I’ve been back,” I said, sheathing the saber. “When I last saw her, I wouldn’t have said she had magical power to spare, exactly.”

“Twelve and a half years is quite a long time,” the woman remarked, walking to the armory and taking out a rapier. “I trust you didn’t think she achieved her rank for nothing, correct?” An image of the steel ball Vaozey threw at me in front of my statue flashed through my mind.

“No, it’s just hard to relate her abilities now to how they were back then,” I admitted.

“Would you care to do a bit of practice with me?” the woman offered. “I used to be a mercenary with Steelheart back in the day, but it’s been almost thirty years since I’ve been in a real fight. I suppose I may be a bit transparent to ask, but crossing swords with an ihlzheyv is a dream of many.” I narrowed my eyes, then raised an eyebrow.

“You want me to fight you seriously?” I asked.

“Gods and spirits, no,” the woman laughed. “If even half of what I’ve heard of you is true you would kill me in our opening moves regardless of your swordsmanship skill. No, I would like for you to exchange a few light blows with me, just for the sake of it. No blood, no hostility, just… a dance, I suppose.” She flourished her rapier, swinging it around a few times, then bringing it back into a vertical position in front of her.

“I don’t know what you’re expecting, but most of my fights have involved me overpowering people to make up for poor parrying,” I said, drawing the saber again.

“Just concentrate on my blade,” the woman advised. “When it swings for you, swing back to meet it. When it dives for you, swat it away or turn to avoid it. We can move slowly at first, then speed up.”

“Did Vaozey ask you to do this?” I asked, suddenly suspicious. The old woman grinned.

“She told me to make sure you knew your manners for tonight,” she replied. “I figured we could talk a bit over this first, then move inside for a meal. You never ate breakfast, did you?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Then let’s proceed,” the woman said, stepping forward and swinging her rapier slowly and obviously. I brought my saber up to meet it, then swung back at approximately the same rate. She ducked under the swing, then stabbed out for me, stopping short of my chest even though I turned to avoid it. “See, you’re fine,” she said. “Now, tell me, what rank does the current head Dahmpiyahn dignitary hold?”

“I have no idea,” I replied.

We continued our mock duel for the next hour as the woman, who asked to be referred to as Yaazmay, taught me as much about the extraneous information around the meeting I was to be attending as she knew. When we moved inside, the meal was already prepared, and it was one of the best I had ever tasted. Afterwards, I washed myself off again, using scented soaps, and changed into an entirely new outfit that had both a shirt and vest as well as pressed pants. I had never seen a tuxedo, but it was a decent Uwrish approximation based on what I knew, hampered only by the fact that it fit loosely and lacked a bowtie.

By the time Vaozey came to get me and bring me over to the meeting, I had already forgotten half of the details of the information Yaazmay told me. I’ll just talk as little as possible and let Vaozey take the lead, I thought as we sat in the wagon, I really wish my operator had given me better guidelines for this sort of thing.

“So before we go in, one more thing,” Vaozey said, holding out a hand to stop me from leaving the wagon. “This afternoon I checked up on that old woman you mentioned and her story seems accurate, at least as far as I can tell. I never saw her when we were leaving, but the records about the nahloymahlthayao say she lived there at least a decade ago. That means what she told you was probably… not incorrect.” I frowned, thinking about the message from Rehv.

“You’re mentioning this because you want me to keep it quiet, right?” I asked.

“Yes,” Vaozey confirmed.

“I was going to anyway,” I replied. “It’s unconfirmed information, and it probably doesn’t affect the viability of my mission. No sense telling it to anyone who doesn’t need to know.”

“Good,” Vaozey nodded. “When we’re in there, let me do most of the talking. This probably won’t be done in one session, but if we’re lucky we’ll get some military support once it does. Whether that means equipment, soldiers, or just money, it’s better than nothing. You didn’t mention a timetable for this request Roydlow made of you, was there one?”

“No,” I said. “I’m assuming it has to be done somewhat quickly though, given the political situation you told me.”

“Yeah,” Vaozey grunted. “Okay, follow me.” We both exited the wagon into the dimly-lit street, then crossed and entered into a large building that quite resembled Aavspeyjh’s mansion, but had a sign reading “Awrehrehzha Town Hall” above the door. While Aavspeyjh’s mansion had been made to fit as many rooms as possible, the town hall seemed to be made to fit as large of rooms as possible, probably for the purposes of having meetings and working collaboratively on administrative tasks. Vaozey already knew where she was going, so I followed her as she led me up to the second floor and down a hallway, then paused right before the room we were presumably to enter.

“Sounds like they’re already here,” she hissed quietly. “Of course the one day they’re all on time is today. I told them to set out an extra chair beside mine, so just sit beside me, okay?”

“Right,” I replied, and Vaozey opened the door. The first thing I noticed in the room wasn’t the contents, but the walls. Colorful tapestries depicting everything from animals and trees to abstract collections of color hung from floor to ceiling on every surface, and even the floor was covered with a blood-red and black crisscross pattern carpet. The ceiling also had carved adornments on it that drew the eye to the crystal chandelier that illuminated the place, and only after trying and failing to figure out exactly how many pieces of glass were used to make it did my eyes finally rest on the contents of the room itself.

A large square table made of dark hardwood was set out with eight chairs around it, each with a crystal glass of water in front of them. At the head of the table sat a man who I didn’t recognize immediately, but then realized was Mawyeyz once I looked at his features again. He was visibly older than before, with flecks of gray in his hair, but otherwise looked healthy, if a bit fatter than before. Along the left of the table was another man with short orange hair and yellow eyes dressed in a blue robe of some kind, sitting beside an empty chair. He sneered at me subtly when my eyes met his, apparently annoyed with my presence, and I assumed he was the Dahmpiyahn ambassador.

To the right, I saw the woman I had seen when I entered the city as a prison worker. She met my eyes, looking shocked and angry, and only then did I realize who she was. She too looked older than before, with the first hints of wrinkles forming around her mouth and eyes, but the thing that had really thrown me off was the lack of a hat. Well, that and the fact that the last time I saw her I was locking her unconscious body in a box, I thought, grimacing. Vaozey walked ahead of me and took the left chair nearest to us, and I sat down in the right one.

“So I tell you idiots to make sure everyone is here and you can’t even get the Pehrihnk ambassador to show up?” Vaozey snapped as someone closed the door behind us. “I expected Taavreyl to ditch this meeting, he’s probably too busy screwing his new shehp to do his duty, but I’m surprised you screwed up, Dawpvaol.”

“What’s he doing here?” Dawpvaol demanded, glaring at me. “Do you know who he is?”

“Do you?” Vaozey snapped back.

“Vihjhao Svaaloyweyl,” the Dahmpiyahn ambassador began in a placating tone. “It is not fit for one of your station to become enraged with a ferngiyf such as you do.” His accent was quite thick, and I tried to translate the new words. The first one baffled me, but the second was similar enough to some Uwrish words for me to intuit its meaning. Born lowly, I thought, Literally, born with less value.

“Zeyviyn, what did I tell you would happen to you the next time you called me that?” Vaozey growled.

“You would never, you are not foolish enough,” Zeyviyn laughed. “To do such a thing to an ambassador like myself would guarantee not only reprisal from the homeland, but reprisal from your own government as well.”

“Let’s at least finish our introductions before we get into the arguing,” Mawyeyz said, holding up a hand. “I’m Mawyeyz Tawl, in case anyone forgot.”

“Zeyviyn Pahiym Nehv, ambassador from Dahmpiyah to West Dahmpiyah,” Zeyviyn said, standing up and giving a bow in my direction. His expression said that he didn’t enjoy bowing to me, but was obligated to.

“You remember me,” Dawpvaol snarled, giving me a look that said everything she didn’t speak aloud.

“She is Dawpvaol Eyyng'pey, leader of the eastern Steelheart Company, who are currently staffing most of our city with guards and scouts among other things,” Mawyeyz said. So she got a promotion or two, I thought.

“And obviously, I’m Vaozey,” Vaozey scoffed, making Zeyviyn hiss and look away in disgust.

“It is not proper for nobility to use a first name so lightly,” he muttered.

“The two missing idiots are Taavreyl Iyv Zheylaorey, second Dahmpiyahn ambassador,” Vaozey said, gesturing to the empty chair beside Zeyviyn, “and Shayaajh Mawveyl from Pehrihnk, who I suppose is probably also out getting his tawt polished instead of doing his job. Not seytoydh surprising, really, the only shocking bit is that it isn’t Dawpvaol doing it for him.”

“Shut your mouth, brat,” Dawpvaol ordered.

“Or what?” Vaozey cackled. “You wouldn’t dare remove even a single guard from their post, you’re making too much money off of these parasites-” Vaozey jabbed a finger to Zeyviyn, “-to even consider it. Not to mention that everyone knows what you two have been doing these last few months.”

“Okay, enough,” Mawyeyz said, cutting off the bickering again.

“For once, I agree with the deserter,” Zeyviyn said. “There will be plenty of time to bicker and degrade the dignity of our statuses later. For now, Zownayveht Svaaloyweyl, please have your guest introduce himself to us. I’m sure that you have a good reason for bringing a… well, one of his kind here.” For a moment, I almost suspected that Zeyviyn knew what I was, or used to be, but then I realized he was referring to my outward ethnicity. Oddly, despite the statement not being vulgar, my instincts told me it was more insulting than most remarks about my appearance.

“INFUNIT-24503e,” I said, drawing out a number of reactions. Yaazmay told me to use my full name in my native language when introducing myself, no matter how strange it was, and so I did. Vaozey and Mawyeyz both smiled, Dawpvaol’s eyes narrowed, and Zeyviyn looked confused.

“Another foreign noble?” Zeyviyn asked. “Three names, maybe four if the first is two parts.”

“That is what I thought as well, at first,” Mawyeyz said to him before looking at me. “Maybe you should use the name everyone knows.”

“Yuwniht Lihyveyz,” I announced. “That’s what’s on the statue, anyway.” It was quiet, but I thought I heard Vaozey groan quietly. Dawpvaol continued to scowl, but Mawyeyz smiled wider, and Zeyviyn began to laugh.

“Oh this is brilliant,” he guffawed. “Truly, Vihjhao Svaaloyweyl, your sense of humor has not degraded in the slightest from your family’s unfortunate history. A testament to the upper taazm’s refinement and breeding, truly. But now the joke is over, so can you please have this man removed from our meeting?”

“It’s not a joke,” Vaozey replied. I could almost hear her bite her tongue to keep from replying to the rest of Zeyviyn’s comment.

“That really is him,” Mawyeyz said. “I told you, I met him before the noypeyyoyjh incident. It’s him. Perhaps, Yuwniht, you could do something to prove your identity to our friend here?” I was also prepared for this, Yaazmay had warned me that it was likely I would need to prove who I was. Light magic would have worked just fine, but I had something even rarer in mind. Placing my hand around the glass in front of me, I called up my magic and sucked the heat out of it, freezing its contents in a second. Then, using force magic instead of my hand, I slid the glass across the table with just enough force to make it stop in front of Zeyviyn.

“That’s the magic R’vaajh Tahyn died for,” I said. “He wanted to know how to do that so badly that he let his guard down, and I cut his head off for it.” Zeyviyn just stared at the ice in the cup for a while, then reached out to touch it, pulling his finger back as if shocked by the cold once he did. Mawyeyz also stared, trying not to look shocked but doing a poor job of hiding it.

“I… apologize,” Zeyviyn said, looking me in the eyes to show he was serious. “An ihlzheyv, even one of such… improper birth, commands a high degree of respect and deference. My comments were caused by my confusion about your identity, and I request to be given the conditions upon which I could be forgiven for them.” If it wasn’t for Yaazmay, I would have been very confused, but once again she had covered a bit of information about Dahmpiyahn noble culture that Vaozey had told her to teach me.

“No conditions are necessary,” I replied. “You are forgiven at no cost.”

“Your mercy is appreciated,” Zeyviyn said, bowing his head.

“Never seen you grovel before,” Vaozey laughed. “It’s a good look on you. With that, let’s start the meeting.”