Eight 5.4: The Problem Revealed

The river south of Voorhei had flooded right up to the village walls, which meant that the tannery built for my kids had gotten completely submerged. All the tools and furnishings had been safely stored in our family’s longhouse in preparation for the storm, but the building itself was a mess, with mud on the floor two-feet deep.

Just as in Bashruuta, the Voorhei militia was starting to be released from official duties, and my family was included in that number. They were shoveling mud from the tannery floor into buckets when I called. Yuki’s extension was inside Aluali at the time, and I could feel through the connection his frustration at the mess, as well as his determination to set things right again.

Is this a bad time? I asked.

‘There is no such thing,’ he replied. In the background, I felt him gesture, signing to the others nearby. It seemed he handed his shovel off to someone else before stepping outside into the clear air. The tannery had smelled heavily of mud and mildew.

A moment later, I sensed him comforted; Billisha had also come outside, and she’d taken his hand. ‘Zasha, we’d like to know what’s happening.’ There was a firmness to his thoughts that spoke of a young man coming into his own.

I’m sorry, I thought. This is a conversation we should’ve had days ago, but I didn’t want to think about the implications of the things that have happened.

Aluali’s concern surged to the forefront of his thoughts. ‘Are you all right?’

Yes, I replied, glancing toward Fala on the bed. Better than I expected to be.

‘And Ikfael?’ he asked. ‘People have been talking…’

Just let them! I answered with more feeling than I’d intended. Remember, gossip tastes sweet in small doses, but too much is poison.

‘Zasha, your family knows better than to step onto an unsteady stone. It’s why we ask for you to tell us the truth.’ Aluali paused, and I sensed how his thoughts gathered to a point. ‘None of us is fragile anymore; we’re strong enough to help you carry your burdens, so please just tell us.’

You… I sighed and started again. My gratitude, Aluali. You, Billisha, and Bihei have come a long way; I couldn’t be more delighted at how much you’re all flourishing. My pride in them colored the connection shared between us.

I felt him smile and duck his head. Through his ears, I heard Billisha whisper: “What is it? Your face is burning.”

“Our zasha said that he believes in our Path to Perfection,” he answered.

I do, I thought vehemently, and that includes everyone in our family. Everyone, whether it’s official or not.

Aluali was a bright kid; he picked up on the implication that I’d included Ikfael in my message. ‘So you’re saying…’

I’m not, actually, I replied. There are reasons why I can’t be clear about things, yet I’ll point out that I’m not in mourning.

Aluali paused to let the words register. At this point, we were all experienced at having to navigate around the dangers posed by truth-telling drugs and magics. I felt his relief at the confirmation that Ikfael was still alive.

‘I wonder, Zasha… I wonder if I should ask about another rumor. This one says that we should prepare a celebration for you, for reaching silvered. And that we should also get ready for your funeral, because you assassinated the hierophant of Albei at the behest of—’

Stop, just stop right there, I thought, then rubbed my face in frustration. This is why gossip is so insidious. Yes, I became silvered. And yes, I killed the hierophant, but it was self-defense and not an assassination. Both of those are facts I can confirm…

Aluali must’ve sensed my hesitation to continue. With trepidation, he asked: ‘Zasha? What else?’

I’ve gone well past Level 10, I replied, ripping the bandage off. I won’t be able to stay at the Glen anymore, and I won’t swear allegiance to the land soldiers either, so Albei is also out.

‘I see,’ Aluali sent. Just those words, yet I felt a sea of emotion underneath them—an expected sadness that had come much, much too soon, as well as pride and an expectation that he’d one day hear legends told about Eight the Storm Caller. ‘Your family understands.’

Meanwhile, I felt like a rat. There was so much my family didn’t know about the recent changes affecting me, Yuki, and Fala, and things had to stay that way. It didn’t matter when battling monsters, but when dealing with human opponents, operational security mattered.

‘You don’t need to be sad, Zasha. We knew this would happen one day. Your Path to Perfection is a long and wandering one. Bee and I are just happy we had you for as long as we did. And you will surely visit; you cannot skip the weddings. There is also our Yuki to keep us connected. The world is smaller than it was, thanks to them. So be happy, for we are happy for you.’

I wiped away the tears falling down my cheeks and went to sit by Fala. At some point, she’d stopped her examination of the book to start tracking me pacing back and forth. She leaned into my side.

At Aluali’s end of the connection, I felt Billisha similarly lean into him. Faintly, I heard a soft sobbing through his ears.

‘When will you come back to Voorhei next?’ Aluali asked.

That was the great thing about functional telepathy: you can’t hear a thought break like a voice could. Unfortunately, if you were sensitive enough, it didn’t help. The emotion under the words came through clearly.

Soon, I answered. There are a few things left to take care of in Bashruuta, and then it’ll be Albei next.

‘Should we travel to meet you there?’

No. Whatever happens, I’ll make sure to pass through Voorhei. I’d rather see you there instead.

###

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon in meditation. The deep stillness of the soul was a refuge from the sadness I felt from leaving my family. At least the emotional oscillations that came with a sixteen-year-old body had been tempered by becoming silvered.

My new authority overrode even the most potent of teenage hormones. Replacing them was a steadiness that felt—not unnatural exactly, but it was a step beyond anything I’d experienced before. Not even the maturity I’d found at the end of my previous life matched it.

The issue was, I couldn’t always point that steadiness in the direction I wanted. Water captivated me and drew my attention. I sometimes found myself gazing at the smallest puddles as if I might find my life’s meaning within it.

Becoming silvered certainly had its perks and challenges.

I didn’t think I’d be hungry anytime soon after the size of my breakfast earlier, but a teenage body burned a lot of calories. Eventually, my stomach rumbled, and I opened my eyes to find Fala snacking on some venison jerky and flipping through the pages of Sulwa’s book.

“You got it open,” I said.

“I did. And you… are you feeling better?” she asked.

“You already know the answer to that question,” I said, my mouth quirking in a wry smile.

“I do,” she replied, “but I like your voice and don’t want to go hundreds of years without hearing it. If I’m to be human, then I also need the habits and social relations of one. It’s more than just possessing the body.”

I nodded. People were social creatures, after all. Hermits existed throughout history, but my Fala had already been there and done that for too long already.

“Okay, so the book…” I started, redirecting the conversation.

“It was trapped,” Fala said, “though the poison needle was easy to break.”

‘And the text is coded,’ Yuki said, interjecting. ‘Heavily so.’

Fala turned the book so that the pages faced me, and I saw that the letters were collected into strings of characters three to ten characters long.

Fortunately, we had an unmatched expert in finding patterns with us, plus Yuki possessed a 25 Intelligence, as well as a talent for Otherworldly Sapience. I fully expected them to have already decoded the text.

So what’s it say? I asked, expecting to feel a flutter of Yuki’s sense of accomplishment in response.

Instead, their voice was preoccupied. ‘It’s a trickier cipher than you’d expect. Each of the letters is notched with a tiny sliver of qi.’

I felt a touch of trepidation then. Is it the same code we found inside the Old Baxteiyel’s pyramid?

‘No, we’re still working on that one. This cipher seems inspired by it, though. Almost like an homage.’

Looking with my eyes didn’t reveal anything unusual about the shapes of the letters or the type of ink used, but now that I knew what to sense for, I noticed the small marks of qi scattered across the pages.

That’s clever, I thought.

‘Mmm,’ Yuki said.

I hate clever enemies, I added.

“Likely, the enemy thinks the same of us,” Fala said. “We are blessed that our Yuki is smarter than are.”

Yuki’s qi blushed for a moment, and then—almost like they were caught flatfooted by their own intelligence—their qi radiated in a wave of surprise and insight. The pace of their thinking sped up, and then increased in speed once more as they cast a Dog’s Agility.

The hidden mind had an eidetic memory and didn’t need anything so mundane as Fala turning the pages for them. They’d already had her do so while I was in meditation, and the whole text was memorized, “stray” qi marks and all.

Over the next couple of minutes, their mood grew heavier and heavier. ‘This isn’t good. The book is a record of Maltra’s efforts to dig out Old Baxteiyel’s secrets.’

He wasn’t in Bashruuta to track the personnel or material moving through the pass to Suguru Hakei? I asked.

‘If he did, he kept the information elsewhere,’ Yuki replied.

‘There were others in Bashruuta for that,’ Fala sent.

I took the book from her and flipped through the pages myself. The text was written in a neat-yet-cramped hand. Those other spies must not have known about Sulwa’s presence, or else his mission would’ve been revealed in the investigation of the Maltran saboteurs.

‘What does Maltra want from Old Baxteiyel?’ Fala asked. ‘They claim their heritage is from there, but this…” She pointed to the book and by implication to the whole of Sulwa’s operation. ‘This is a level of interest beyond wanting to prove such a thing.’

We both turned our attention to Yuki, whose thoughts had continued to buzz in the background but were now slowing down as they finished digesting the text.

‘Sulwa was tasked specifically with identifying the magical and supernatural underpinnings of the old empire occupying these lands. The book alludes to a collection of histories that describe how its people harnessed silverlight and manipulated the soul. From the way the Maltrans talk about it, they see that power as part of their birthright.’ Yuki’s qi prickled in remembered outrage.

I felt my own hackles rise at the memory of the deaths of people’s souls while fighting the old empire’s undead warriors. Baxta had gone to extraordinary, blasphemous lengths to conquer the lands that eventually had fallen to him and his armies. ‘Gods damn Maltra. They want to bring that back?’

‘It appears to be their goal,’ Yuki replied. ‘Sulwa was regularly informed of the findings from a team of researchers inside Maltra, so that he knew what to look for. A team, by the way, who is well funded and has the attention of the emperor and empress. Sulwa was jealous of his handlers.’

Thank the gods we got to the Pyramid of Despair first, I thought. It would’ve been a tragedy of epic proportions if the Maltrans had gotten to the coded materials kept there. Better in our Hoarder’s Pocket then in their hands—

‘The problem is…’ Yuki interrupted, then paused for their thoughts to cycle through the text one more time. ‘Hmm… yes, the tone of the most recent entries is optimistic. The references to their birthright continue, it almost sounds like the name of a project.’

There came another pause, and I don’t know if I recall Yuki ever being so deeply engrossed before then. It was like me staring into a ball of water, like they were bringing the full weight of their intelligence to bear.

‘There are hints in the text,’ they said eventually. ‘While Sulwa’s handlers are committed to uncovering Old Baxteiyel’s secrets, there’s a shift in the latter sections of the book that indicate they might find success claiming their birthright without those secrets.’

How sure are you about this? I asked, dismayed.

‘Half-half,’ Yuki replied. ‘Conjecture fills the gaps we’re finding, but the patterns point in that direction.’

“The more I hear about this Maltra,” Fala said, “the more I wonder how the spirits tolerate their behavior.”

Normally, I would’ve agreed with her, but recent events had cast a new light on how I saw the spirits of the land. “We know how even spirits aren’t immune to manipulation. As long as they refine their fair share of silverlight, then the World Spirit won’t punish them, right?”

“A spirit of the land is on their side?” Fala asked, seemingly surprised by the idea.

“Not necessarily, but there’s one supporting the Three-City Alliance,” I said, gesturing toward her. “Why not one helping them?”

“But the way the Maltrans abuse darklight…”

“As long as there’s a net positive in favor of silverlight,” I countered, “wouldn’t that be enough to win a reprieve during the reckoning at the end of the Long Dark?”

Fala frowned, clearly not liking the idea. She had a bad history with darklight, and it really showed in moments like this one. “This is not the balance we are meant to strive for!”

“On that we agree,” I replied.

“I—I cannot let them do this,” she said, the firmness of her convictions seeming to surprise her. I felt it through our connection, as well as a sense of her authority rising within her. Through her thoughts, she sent, ‘Even if our Yuki isn’t certain, the chance that these people might one day abuse the power of silverlight, to hold the power to destroy people’s souls… that cannot be allowed to happen.’

Almost as if in response to Fala’s declaration, an insight bloomed within me, and I spoke it aloud: “With authority comes responsibility. It’s not just a power to wield as influence.”

“Yes!” Fala exclaimed, grabbing onto the idea. “This is a truth.”

‘We can’t just walk into Maltra, though, and ask them to stop,’ Yuki said.

Fala nodded and sent, ‘That’s also true, and yet we can’t do nothing; my path refuses to let me stand idle.’

I put the book down to hold her hand instead. We, my love. We can’t do nothing. Where you go, so do I.

She squeezed my hand, and I felt how her thoughts circled. “This problem can’t be given away,” she said eventually.

“Who else is there to pick it up?” I asked. “Who will take the situation as seriously as we do? Knight Ithia and her land soldiers are stuck defending Albei. And besides, Maltra’s forces are beyond what the alliance can handle. Stealth and subterfuge would be more effective.”

Fala nodded. “We should still tell our allies. They can at least offer us aid.”

‘And we’ll also need a plan,’ Yuki said.

I nodded along. “A hell of a plan, yes.”