“Transportation remained one of the major factors that drove trade in the civilized world as we know it. Certainly, spatial artifacts made small-scale transport far more convenient, but the lack of larger scale artifacts rendered them less than satisfactory for transportation in bulk. Similarly, portals and teleportation gates consumed far too much energy for the time being to make them worthwhile choices for large-scale transportation, which limited us to physically moving them about the old way.” - From a lecture by Garth Wainwrought, Dean of the Levain Institute for Higher Learning, circa 693 FP.

“I see, I see… That’s quite the bold plan, if I may say so, Milady,” said Arquivaldo after Aideen explained to him the rough gist of her plans to found a city for the unliving to call their own in the middle of the Forest of Despair. “I presume you are already aware that some of the nearby nations might take affront to that, right? It’s pretty much typical political peacocking, claiming the land to be theirs even when they don’t even dare set foot there, but it’s still a thing.”

“I fully expect that, and if things come to blows, we would retaliate in kind,” replied Aideen firmly, having expected such a scenario. In fact, Grandpa Aarin had been the first to warn her of the likelihood of such a scenario happening, which was one reason why she also asked quite a few talented fighters to join her on the expedition. Just the idea of what someone like, say, Kino, could do to an army was a frightening prospect.

After all, there were likely few opponents more frightening to face than a Void mage that couldn’t be killed no matter what one did to them.

Even failing that, anyone who wished to contest their claim on the forest’s center would have to bring their forces through the infamously inhospitable forest, which would be an endeavor guaranteed to cause no small amount of losses to whoever tried. Of course, Aideen hoped that the people in charge of the nearby nations would have smarter minds than to sacrifice their people for needless posturing and peacocking, but she also knew how nobles and politicians often thought, so she prepared for such an eventuality anyway.

“Either way, for the matter of transportation, it should be possible for me and my associates, including new ones I will likely make in the future, to handle transporting up to a thousand people or two in one trip,” said Arquivaldo after some thought. His own ship might not be able to handle that many people, but he could always hire others he was close to for such a job. Where one ship might not suffice, just bring ten. “As for contact, I do have the plan to make Port Lif a regular part of my route in the future. Do you have someone you can trust to convey a message here?”

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“Not people I personally know, no, but I have some status in the Lichdom and can get whoever happens to be appointed as the governor here to pass on something a simple as a message, and they will make sure to get it done properly,” replied Aideen with a bit of a smirk. Her status as the Bone Lord’s “favorite granddaughter” went a long way in the Lichdom, and most viewed her as even above the Bone Lord’s personal disciples, since those changed as people died of old age and new ones were inducted.

Aideen on the other hand had been a constant presence in the hierarchy, even if her position was very unofficial, for three centuries and counting, nearing a fourth, even.

That placed her amongst the longest lasting of the people close to the Bone Lord, with only elves like Drietven having lasted longer than she had.

While they chatted, Arquivaldo also advised Aideen to arrange things ahead of time on the receiving end as well. Mass arrival of people by sea was not the most common thing to happen in ports, so there tended to be plenty of bureaucracy, paperwork, and other red tape to deal with because of that. On the other hand, if Aideen could get a good word in with the local lord, such inconveniences could easily be waved away.

Given her fame and prowess as a healer, Arquivaldo judged that it should be trivial for Aideen to acquire a good impression from someone else. Few people would reject doing a favor for someone storied like her, as long as the favor in question was reasonable and did not cross their personal taboos. After all, nobody knew when they might have a need for a truly powerful healer.

To own a promise of aid from someone like Aideen was akin to owning a second life, some might say, given that she could pretty much save anyone regardless of their condition, so long as they still lived. It was a reputation many bard’s tales had developed for her – though for once the reputation was not exaggerated and was close to the truth – over the years, and most people in either continent had at least heard of her.

Naturally, with such fame, also came imposters who aimed to abuse Aideen’s – or rather, the Silver Maiden’s – reputation for their own benefits. Many of those imposters had less than pleasant aftermaths, however, after their attempts to “heal” others ended in failure. After all, they typically weren’t unliving, and thus poorly suited to handle the anger of the bereaved family who quickly learned that the imposters in question were very, very mortal indeed.

When Aideen heard of such cases, she often just sighed, as she knew all too well that it would be impossible to prevent them from happening. Short-sighted people looking to make a quick profit were everywhere, and often they failed to properly research the person they chose to impersonate, which led to their own deaths.

They only reaped what they had sown for themselves, after all, so she saw no reason to interfere.