Published: February 17th 2025, 3:00:11 pm
We descended upon the city in the middle of the night. Several blocks of apartments in the Nippon-koku style had been hastily constructed next to the gigantic arena, so fresh I could literally smell the paint. A huge ritual circle was traced on the ground, mountains of construction supplies piled inside. Wood and cloth, straw and nails, paint and varnish, just heaped around in huge piles. Even at this late hour, workers were piling whole logs in. I was treated to the sight of people waving off the rest of the workers, then eight robed and cowled Classers taking position around the ritual circle. In unison, they clapped their hands and placed them on the edge of the circle. Lightning danced across the supplies that started to glow a brilliant white, and the rest of the people on the disk shuffled over to see what was going on.
Over the course of a few dozen seconds, the pile of supplies merged together into a single lump, then stretched itself out, and molded itself into a fully assembled building. There was impressed muttering from the rest of the travelers.
Damn.
I wanted that skill.
“How was that done?” Tobias wondered out loud.
Eh, he was one of Night’s [Apprentices]. I’d throw him a bone, from one apprentice to another.
“I imagine they all have a [Ritual] skill or something similar.” I said. “It lets them work in unison. I didn’t recognize the runic language being used, but it’s also possible it was a different skill that let them paint out the skill, pre-charging it. The movement and weight of everything is large enough that there’s either significant buy-offs going on, or more likely, the ritual and requirements over time, including mana donation, made it all possible. Honestly, your best bet is to go up to one of them and politely ask how it was done. There’s five hundred and twelve ways to get any effect done in particular ways, and while people can be secretive, when the skill is that public they’re usually willing to explain.”
I thought about the process of Tobias going up to them and asking what was going on, where we were, and amended my advice a bit.
“I’d first figure out if you’ve got a language in common with them or not.”
The boy groaned.
“More Crow-cursed books.” He complained.
Ahh, a musclehead. Well, he’d learn or he’d die. Probably the second one. Good luck keeping him alive, Night, you’ll need it.
We all landed near one of the buildings, bright lights illuminating the way, and Night stepped out in front of us, clapping his hands once and drawing all of our attention to him.
“An orientation of what to expect shall come in the morning, when most of us are active. With that said, as the one who brought you all here, I will lay down the most basic of rules. Do not visit any direct physical harm upon your fellow delegates. Do not violate the sanctuary of their abode. If you should happen to have mortal enemies, it is likely you will encounter them, or people representing them, at this meeting. Lay aside your grudges for the time being, let words and political maneuvers be your only weapons. There are additional restrictions that will be detailed later. This is a time of jockeying for position and power, and I would caution you to be on your guard. Lies and manipulation will be common, and there is no protection against betrayal or future promises failing to materialize. Yet, I encourage you all to not despair. The seeds of a thousand and twenty four great friendships will be sown in the coming weeks. Ties and alliances that last you centuries can be started with a simple word. I encourage you all to mingle to your heart’s desire. Food, drink, and other refreshments can be found inside. Please, don’t let me hold you. You will be directed to your room when you so desire.”
Night, through some impossible, showy twist of his body, stepped out of the way in such a way to communicate that he was done, and that we should all enter and be warmly greeted. Nearly everyone started to trickle into the building, but I hung back, as did Tobias. Skye muttered quietly to me as she passed by.
“We’ve got to talk at some point soon.”
I nodded my agreement. I’d had my fun on the way over, but even in Remus I’d seen voting blocks form. I voted for things that were near and dear to their heart, they voted for things I cared about, and game theory rapidly collapsed hundreds of individuals into large blocks. I wouldn’t vote for anything I strongly disagreed with, but I imagined there would be dozens and dozens of items that I didn’t care either way about.
Part of me felt my soul leave my body as I contemplated it all. I was thinking like a politician, I was slipping into the mindset of a [Senator]. But if I didn’t want to spend the next 800 years or so looking over my shoulder for angry Wardens as I went around healing people, that was the game I needed to play.
I could hear the echoes of all my friends laughing in my head. I just knew they’d find the situation I was in utterly hilarious. I waved to $WARDENNAME and $APISTANAME as they entered. New friends! Possibly temporary, maybe for eternity. The last trickles of the people Night had brought filed in, only Tobias, Night, and myself left. I marched up to the progenitor.
“Night! Again, super glad to see you. Now that we’re all here at last, do you have a few minutes to catch up? I kept trying to find you during the dust up with the New Remus Empire, but Arachne kept mentioning ‘Operational Security’ and the like. I’ve missed you.” I confessed.
Night smiled, nearly as widely as when he’d first remembered me after coming back.
“Tobias, if you would go find your room, I do owe Elaine a good chunk of my time.”
My smile could’ve lit up the town at Night’s comment. Tobias’s hasty, undisciplined salute could use work, and goddesses, he was so slow. That wasn’t my anticipation talking, not at all.
Night clasped his hands behind his back, and assumed a pose that was all too familiar. Without saying a word we started to slowly walk around the entire complex, meandering at speeds that a child could outrace us at.
It was never about the destination; it was always the journey.
“First off. I do hope you understand that during the recent events, I was waylaid by higher priorities. It is unfortunate, but I will not apologize for-” Our slow walking pace had nothing on how quickly we were talking, no matter how meandering the words were. We both knew time was tight, and without saying anything, I knew that it would be over in a single lap.
I waved him off. Had I ever really interrupted Night like this before?
“Night, believe me, I understand. We all had to do what we had to do. I’ve been a Sentinel most of my life, I understand the stresses and demands. I’d be interested in talking about what happened, but only if you want to. Mostly, I just want to talk with my friend.”
Night’s smile had entirely too much fang.
“I too, would like nothing more than to have a wonderful discussion with one of my oldest friends. I am pleased that we once again have the time and ability to socialize and enjoy the kinder things in life, as opposed to being needlessly worried about the future, and finding ourselves needing to act in our greatest capacity. I have not had the opportunity to mention that Susan is here, and would love to meet up again. How is young Nina doing? I was in contact with her more than I expected, and…”
By all the gods, it was great to talk with Night again. The nostalgic feeling of our slow walks and careful pauses was more comforting than a childhood blanket.
=========
I got inside, and a worker directed me to my room. Light snacks were available, along with a cup of water. I took a minute to assess the room.
It was alright. On one hand, they were basically entertaining the heads of state. On the other, it was immediately post an Immortal War, and the definition of ‘head of state’ was extremely loose at the moment. Skye was invited and technically qualified, all because she was the overseer to a modest sized community. Our stops along the way had included a number of places smaller than Orthus.
The room was a compromise between “we need thousands of rooms tomorrow”, “we’re entertaining heads of state, and old, rich, powerful Immortals”, with a mix of “while we’re doing this, let’s make it livable housing for Kazehara.” Then add in “we can’t make some people’s place nicer than others”, and it was a respectable little apartment. Modestly stocked as well! Walk-in ready.
Or… was there any point in staying here? I could easily hang out in my [Manor], and if I wanted to allow visitors, I could even keep [Portcullis] open. I was also fast, not terribly social, and Nippon-Koku was close enough to Exterreri. I could just go home, and have a modest commute every morning.
I liked that idea. Why spend weeks away from Iona, Auri, and Sara? Heck, the rules here seemed incredibly flexible. I could fly in tons of baked goods and bribe everyone with Auri’s cooking.
It was a little too close to morning to leave now, but I had a plan.
Onto the next challenge!
My sleep schedule had been thrown horribly out of whack over the past week or so. I was incredibly tired, but if I went to sleep now, I’d sleep the sleep of the dead and miss everything going on in the morning. How could I make sure I woke up in time, and didn’t sleep the day away…?
==================
The music of soft windchimes and running water played through my room, right as the light started to artificially brighten. I languidly stretched in my bed, my senses returning to me, enjoying the artful wakeup call.
Then my stack of books fell onto my head.
“FUCK!” I swore, rubbing my head, as my sleep-addled thoughts worked through everything.
Right. I’d set up a ridiculous contraption to tip over a stack of books onto me at the right time to wake up. On one hand, my engineering had gone great. Thank you [Everywoman].
On the other, I had to check myself on sleep-deprived 3AM ideas. Why the fuck had I decided to tip a stack of books over onto my head!?
With the benefit of a bit of sleep, a thousand better ideas flooded my mind. There were so many different spells I could’ve cast, so many runes I could’ve laid down, that would’ve done the same thing but better. I’d just… gotten stuck on the idea of waking up in a pile of books, realized that [Everywoman] would let me do it, and gone a little nuts.
I slapped my cheeks.
Go time!
I opened [Portcullis] and did all my morning ablutions. It was much nicer here, but then again, not too many people had their own pocket dimension. Home away from home. I skipped breakfast for the moment, deciding I wanted to see what was on offer and how they handled it… but I took a sniff in my pantry and decided on what my backup breakfast was going to be.
I headed down, and Katarina intercepted me, a frown on her face.
“Dawn, if I could chat with you privately for a moment?” She asked.
“Of course.” Skills went up, and we were briefly alone. I had some ideas, but I was making no assumptions. My former [Legata] took a deep breath.
“My curse. I can’t summon any part of my [Shadow Legion] here, because no helpers are allowed. I can’t lean on Night’s generosity, not without showing grievous weakness. You’re not here as a head of state, which means you can be a little more flexible. Let’s be frank, you’re not currently a member of the Sixth Legion, haven’t been for years. Would you be willing to formally sign back up as a member for the duration of the meeting?”
I barely needed to think about it.
“Sure!” I happily replied. “I, Elaine, the Dawn Sentinel, do solemnly swear to faithfully serve the Sixth Legion to the best of my capabilities for the duration of the summit, barring those required by my need to heal and serve medicine.”
There were some minor linguist nuances to the language I picked that gave me more wiggle room. Basically, I was joining the Sixth… while still giving myself all the room in the world to keep doing exactly what I wanted to do anyway. Enough for the System to recognize me as a member of the Legion for Katarina’s skill, even when I voted differently than her. The balance of power was hilariously tilted in my favor. It didn’t bind me in the slightest, but once I stopped ‘acting’ like I was under her command, the fragile recognition would break. But it was enough for her skill.
With a relieved sigh, Katarina spoke.
“[Rise].” She intoned, and my shadow picked itself up off the ground. I looked down with a delighted smile.
“Oh hey! This is going to mess with people so much, it’ll be great!”
Katarina snorted in amusement as my shadow started fussing over her. Her curse was bad.
I had a thought.
“I was planning on flying home every evening. Is that going to be a problem?”
Katarina waved off my concern.
“Not in the slightest. If you let me know before you leave and when you come back, I can plan around not having help.”
“Great! Let’s go!”
We bounded down the rest of the stairs and grabbed food. Royal, Wally, and Skye joined us. Tobias was probably asleep, given that he kept Night hours. I wanted to snort in amusement at the place. Hundreds of heads of state in a cafeteria.
I’d gotten a peek behind the curtains of managing events, and I was impressed with the logistics. Most heads of state had their current position on pure competency during a crisis - although, there were probably a good mix of [Warlords] mixed in right now - and showing off ‘look at how well we can pull an event together’ was one way to impress and flatter, and give a good impression of the place on the global stage.
Heck, with how everything had been overthrown and overturned, it was rapidly going to be the only place on the global stage. It wasn’t like there were lines of communication for other places to become known.
Just like everyone had known the name Kyowa, everyone was going to learn the name of Kazehara. And so, the cycle would repeat.
I shook the thoughts from my head and paid attention to the breakfast.
“Alright, I’ll confess, I’ve probably missed something, but does anyone know what we’re doing next?” I asked.
Almost like someone had heard me - but probably just a fantastic sense of timing from doing this dozens of times - a well-dressed kappa clapped his hands, bringing all of our attention to him. Definitely had a Sound element. He rotated through his announcement in two dozen different languages.
“Esteemed guests! Welcome! I am Kawaji. It is my great pleasure to meet you all! There are three days until the summit begins. We are in the middle of a week of festivals and activities for you to all enjoy. Please, avail yourselves of our hospitality! Now, as many of you are new here today, I must go over all the rules. The full list will be made available to you, as are the tentative rules of how the summit will go. Please note that one of the earliest items is all of you voting on what the rules will be, so they will change significantly. Now, the first and most obvious is to be a good guest. Omotenashi covers you all. This place has been built quickly, at great expense. Please do not ruin it. Please be mindful of auras, passives, and far-ranging abilities. Please be mindful of…”
The list was extensive, and so much of it was common sense that I started to wonder about it.
Ah, right. My earlier musings on [Warlords]. It was entirely possible that a number of people here - mostly the mortals - had been raised in a society that had only known violence. Only known the law of the jungle. That believed might made right.
Hopefully, all of the people with that type of thinking looked around, and realized that while 400 levels at 20 years old was impressive, there were a lot more people here with much higher levels. They didn’t have the biggest stick, and the people with the extra-large clubs would be satisfied to bonk them if they stepped out of line.
Oh, who was I kidding? There were going to be a couple of irredeemable idiots somewhere in the mess.
A brief meditation on auras, passives, and far ranging abilities naturally brought mine up. I was going to keep it up, a little bit of subtle diplomacy. While the summit was going on, no inhabitant of Kazehara would know illness. Anyone attempting cloak and shadow nonsense would find their more violent attempts rebuffed.
And it wasn’t necessarily a pro, but a boatload of experience for denying a high-level Classer trying to smack down a rulebreaker would be nice. Peace and life was for everyone, the worst crime resulting in exile and removal from the summit, not death. Even with me part-timing my healing, I wasn’t the only powerful defensive Classer around.
Currency was interesting. Nippon-Koku was already back on the arc standard, somehow - Immortal fingerprints were all over that - and there was a place for people to go and exchange local currency, from bartering to hides to gold, into usable arcs.
Three days of partying before things got serious sounded great. I was about to sneak everyone in when a rule covered that.
Damn. No bringing in people from the outside… but there wasn’t anything about leaving and coming back. I almost asked to clarify… but realized I might get a rule explicitly made about that. Which I didn’t want.
The moment Kawaji had finished his speech, then started to repeat it in the next language, I was standing up, handling my trash with a flicker of thought.
“Who wants to come with me?” I asked, not really managing to contain my exuberance.
It was a shame that Iona, Auri, Sara, and everyone else couldn’t be here. But I was going to surprise them by showing up a few weeks earlier than planned, with big bags of goodies.
Party time!