Hope

Elizabeth stared intently at Irwyn’s frozen face within the chamber. It had been a few minutes since he had entered… for them. Probably less than a second for him.

“As fascinating as ever,” Johnson nodded, interpreting whatever raw data flowed directly into his head at speeds that defied reason. “Even Finity seems to bend ever so slightly around Irwyn. By about… 0.001%? Thereabouts. I wonder if that may increase as he grows in power. Moreover, it seems to always bend in his favor. Is that in an objective sense or in what he perceives then?”

“How did you even install a dilation chamber?” she interrupted before Johnson could spend the next ten minutes explaining the intricacies of the exception of an exception of a magical law that only mattered for Domains and above. While such discussions could be intriguing, there were more urgent things on her mind.

“I told your mother and it got done before I even arrived,” he shrugged lightly. “I suppose they can be portable? Who knows how Time-aligned equipment works.”

“You, admitting to ignorance?!” she acted out mock outrage with a slight chuckle.

“Hush, hush. I don’t need to know how to build a hammer when measuring its impact pressure.”

“Surely,” she smiled. “Have you seen to… that thing I asked you about?” then used that jovial moment to broach the topic before she could second guess herself into silence.

“Nothing. And by that I mean none whatsoever, neither in the way you had hoped for or dreaded,” Johnson told her. He at least knew to say it neutrally.

“I… see,” she did not quite manage to hide the disappointment and, frankly, hurt.

“Don’t make that face,” the doctor patted her on the shoulder. “If your goal is impossible, simply adjust it. Nothing - and I repeat there is nothing - means neither positive nor negative. Take a step back and ask exactly what you have learned and what that might mean.”

“Thank you,” she sighed, trying to let go of the glum. Readjust, was it? It was then that she found her insignia ring stirring. The enchantment had malfunctioned after the ordeal in Ebon Respite, however, it had reknitted itself since. As a creation existing explicitly for secure communication, it would be rather useless if it was so easily destroyed.

Calm? she thought.

I have brought Alice and Waylan, though they will need to stay away from you before scrutiny slips, he replied. Fair enough, smuggling them into the mansion carried needless risk. Also, whenever possible, your mother wishes to talk.

Then I will bring Alice along, she returned. Might as well settle several things at once.

Come pick her up at the Rose Hotel then, Calm immediately adjusted his plans. He himself could not safely travel the Voidways without a guide and her mother often insisted on the privacy of that study that could be accessed in no other way when they spoke candidly.

“I have to go. My mother,” Elizabeth sighed turning to Johnson.

“No need to apologize. There are still plenty of small things for me and Irwyn to figure out.”

“If at all feasible, remember to tell him where I have gone,” she began walking away.

“No promises,” Johnson muttered back half-jokingly, much of his focus clearly elsewhere again. She quickly changed back into her usual dress, then stepped down the hallway towards the front door. The lack of servants remained suspicious, even if reasonable under the circumstances. She took a moment to mess with her hair, toned down her calmness, then walked out.

The observers have not yet left. Third sons of third sons with nothing better to do than stare at their betters - for their other betters who just happened to share more blood with them. The chaff of nobility that was sometimes so glaringly in sight. Those who failed to grasp Fate despite their origins. Still, Elizabeth pretended to be shaken for their eyes as she hurried towards the Voidways. It was just another cost of weakness. But she lived with the knowledge that unlike theirs, hers would be temporary. She had to suppress the spring that would have brought to her step as she planned the finishing touches of a scheme of her own. Elizabeth finally knew exactly what she would demand for Alice’s testimony. She had a bit of an epiphany after the ordeal in Ebon Respite after all.

The heiress soon stepped into the Voidways, the familiar atmosphere as comforting as ever. The artifact’s mana whispered to her of calm, perhaps sensing her restlessness. Elizabeth answered with reassurance that she was quite fine. Without anyone else to annoy the endless hallway, the door she needed to take was the very first one on the right. Not that she would mention its moods to anyone - the intellect controlling the Voidways was on the list of secrets she was oathbound to keep. Alice jumped up from her armchair as soon as Elizabeth stepped out. The Rose Hotel was chosen mostly because the Voidways led to a private suite rather than an open lobby, allowing for discretion. Lodgings were also incredibly under-booked overall because of the War, letting Elizabeth meet her entouragee-to-be alone.

“Hello,” Elizabeth opened, allowing Alice a moment to recover.

“So, I was told to wait for you here but…,” Alice broached her confusion.

“You will have your promised meeting with the Duchess,” Elizabeth nodded. “We have been summoned.”

“This is a bit sudden, no?” the other heiress stared at her in surprise.

“That is for the best,” Elizabeth nodded. “It’s better to not overthink.”

“Hold on a moment! I am not ready for this!”

“Preparation is rather futile,” Elizabeth shrugged. Her mother always had her way in the end. Struggles against that were meaningless. Better to just find a way to benefit right back. “Just be polite and honest. There is usually no point in lying anyway.”

“I get nervous around powerful mages, you know?”

“Are you… not aware?” Elizabeth paused.

“Of what?” Alice frowned.

“My mother is quite notoriously untalented. In straight combat, I might actually beat her nowadays.”

“Whaaat?” Alice stared again. “How did she…”

“It may be better to explore that later,” Elizabeth urged. “She will pretend otherwise, but my mother is waiting for us. And I am not in a mood to deal with a petty and upset Duchess.”

“I am experiencing culture shock here, ok?”

“That’s not the right term, I don't think.”

“Filial insolence?”

“Let’s get going,” Elizabeth smiled slightly, then turned towards the Voidways before the semantics locked her in a full discussion.

“I am going to ask a lot of questions later,” Alice insisted.

“That is fine, just get your thoughts in order now,” Elizabeth said as they entered. “You wanted a seat at the table and will have it. It’s up to you to make the most of it.”

“Ugh, what is this place?” Alice flinched as soon as their feet passed the boundary.

“The Voidways,” Elizabeth inclined her head, watching Alice’s visage twist in apparent disgust. She could not relate. The doorway closed behind them. Elizabeth immediately knew it would be the 10th door on the right. Alice seemed to aggravate them far less than Irwyn – which made sense.

“Literally every direction is down, it’s making me nauseous,” the girl complained.

“Every direction is deeper, not down,” Elizabeth corrected.

“Can I just close my eyes?”

“Will that help?”

“Probably not…”

“It is not far,” Elizabeth assured, leading the way at a brisk pace. The Voidways seemed to affect Alice notably worse than even Irwyn whose elements were quite anathemic to them. Then again, the Voidways were not meant to harm. Alice was being challenged not by power but by her own perception. At least the artifact was not outright hostile to the other heiress. Those that were actively disliked tended to get lost and never re-appear.

“I am not sure the meeting place will be better,” Alice grunted.

“The office is impressive but not quite so intense, I expect,” Elizabeth assured. “Here. Again: Polite honesty. Do not be fooled by her honeyed words, most are careful manipulations.”

“Now you are just making me more nervous.”

When they entered, the office was the same endless Void as ever. Elizabeth had to admit that there was something comforting about the black walls seemingly stretching into faux infinity as well as the half-hidden Temzda depicted in the distance, though she could not let that distract her.

“Good of you to come and see me, daughter,” Avys smiled, sitting in her seemingly favorite chair. The maid she had with her was wearing a lattice dress woven from what looked like steel. Besides looking uncomfortable, it was obviously a nod to ‘Steelmire’. Not the level of personal specify her mother usually deployed - but then again, there were very few people left alive who could let personal details slip about Alice, if any.

“You have literally summoned us here,” Elizabeth said carefully. She and Alice approaching their seats, though her latest follower seemed to have been set rather off balance. Not by the dress thought, she barely even registered it.

“Is it infinite?” Alice asked, staring at the endless darkness of the office, seemingly stretching forever in every direction. Unlike Irwyn, Alice did not seem to notice the subtly drawn Temzda behind Avys.

“It’s not finite,” Elizabeth explained. “That is not necessarily the same thing as you probably know. The room is not objectively that large, but there are no edges to reach.”

“Please, take a seat, Alice,” Avys invited, ignoring the explanation. “I have heard many things about you.”

“I appreciate that you would pay attention to me, your Grace,” Alice bowed slightly as they took their seats. The posture was a bit off proper etiquette, but that was likely a drift caused by the distance of where she had been educated. At least it was immediately clear that she had been taught.

“Leave us,” Avys nodded to the maid who went and stepped into the Voidways. The woman was not a mage, which made her odds of finding a way out alone… uncertain. Elizabeth did not think the ways liked her mother enough to be accommodating to her subordinates. Sure, there could be something else at play, but an alternative occurred to Elizabeth.

“Is this a very convoluted way of getting rid of inconvenient servants?” Elizabeth challenged as the thought appeared. Outright execution of disloyal servants was heavily frowned upon – insubordination was seen as more of a weakness of the master and thus their fault. But no one would complain if they got lost in the Voidways – another one of those illogical boundaries their Duchy’s nobility clung on to. A servant who managed to get lost was unworthy... the straightforward nobility seemingly did not consider that such disappearances could be arranged.

“I had originally thought to only speak with my daughter,” Avys ignored her spite. “Yet you brought your lovely latest follower with you. I presume for a reason?”

“You knew she would be coming,” her mother always did. “And why.”

“Yes, but it would have been polite to tell me anyway,” Avys rebutted, then turned to Alice. “So, surely you have had time to think about what you wish to ask for? The Fate of Steelmire does obviously intrigue me. First-hand testimony has been… scarce.”

“I want…” Alice hesitated, trying to regain her poise.

“No,” Avys interrupted before the request could even be voiced. “I will not agree to help you kill someone you yourself cannot even name.”

“...No, of course, you cannot,” Alice paused again, then blushed, embarrassed for being read so precisely. Elizabeth glared, unable to do anything as Alice surrendered leverage. If she had positioned to be disgruntled by the rejection they may have been able to demand more in return. Alas, Elizabeth also knew that outmaneuvering her mother had always been a vain hope in the first place, hence why she had scarcely prepared. Plans were much harder to read and perfectly counter if they never even existed.

“Surely you knew that,” Avys cemented her stance, losing nothing. “What else have you thought of?”

“Then… I would like instruction,” Alice voiced. It was an obvious option – since revenge drove her, grasping power was her best option. “My education is incomplete, gaps unfilled. If I wish to progress, I must learn - something few can provide to the standard I require.”

“Hmm,” Avys put a finger to her lips as if considering it. Then she reached into a drawer, pulling out a thick tome, heavily enchanted at a glance, though the magic was subtle enough it would be hard to detect by magical perception alone if Elizabeth wasn’t staring at it. “Perhaps this would suffice.”

“If you could elaborate,” Elizabeth nodded. It was not surprising her mother would have something on hand to fulfill one of the more obvious demands. Alice still seemed unduly impressed though.

“This grimoire had been written some 700 years ago by a Named Farstrider for a favored disciple,” Avys explained. “It had been obtained by Elizabeth’s ancestors at some point and seemingly left unused for at least a generation. It should provide all the guidance and knowledge needed to form a domain, perhaps several.”

“And you would… give that to me?” Alice stared at it with such blatant hunger it was clear she was already sold.

“The information you have is not so valuable, dear,” Avys chuckled. “I would lend it to you for up to… let’s say 100 years. A century is a nice round number. You would return it upon forming your 9th domain or were the time to run out first, though I doubt that given you had attracted Elizabeth’s attention.”

“Subjective or objective years?” Alice immediately wanted to know.

“Objective.”

“I would want a clause about subjective temporal anomalies, rendering my subjective time with it to less than two-thirds of the objective span.”

“Expecting to travel through ruptures of Time, are you?” Avys seemed more amused than angry about additional demands. But then, she never let show anything she did not want. “Very well. You may even have your contingency for an astronomically unlikely scenario for free.”

“Then I am quite satisfied with such a deal,” Alice admitted.

“I am joyous to hear that,” Avys nodded, then reached into her desk again, withdrawing a bell forged from black metal. She openly rang it, though no sound was audible. Not ten seconds later the only door into the room opened.

“Your Ladyships,” Dervish of all people bowed. Elizabeth formed a very subtle waving hand with her mana. Explicitly subtle enough to elude her mother’s inferior magical senses.

“If you would take lovely Alice to her interrogation – though I know it is a bit ahead of schedule,” Avys instructed. “I swear to the gentlest treatment. Make sure my promises are kept.”

“Of course,” Dervish nodded, gesturing for Alice to follow him. She gave Elizabeth a hesitant glance at first – not recognizing the Shadow – though her recent liege’s nod seemed to be enough to convince her.

“Well done with the girl,” Avys said as soon as the door shut behind them. “You make me proud.”

“Let’s talk about my cut of this deal,” Elizabeth refused to engage in the comparison.

“You would have me pay twice for the same service?” Avys feigned outrage.

“Would you not mess with me?”

“Say the words then,” Avys inclined her head. “There is order to these things. For all this is just play-acting, it is close enough to real experience.”

“Fine,” she grit her teeth but relented. “You paid Alice for being interrogated. I am still owed for even letting this bargaining take place. I would have had every right to refuse.”

“The part about refusal is a bit on the nose,” Avys judged. “It only works if you are in a position to refuse. And the other side must also know it - you will be surprised by how incredibly some people overvalue their importance, especially when you head North.”

“Why would you think I would head North?” Elizabeth feigned ignorance.

“Because I have your list,” Avys rolled her eyes. Elizabeth had requested the Desert of glass be looked into - along with 19 other vague locations she had completely made up. “You know, historians who had traveled most of the Realm are quite difficult to find but surprisingly trivial to bribe.”

“Show me,” Elizabeth demanded. Avys shook her head slightly, yet handed over a sheet of paper. Elizabeth slowly, methodically, read each entry very much including the fake ones. Half of the places were simply marked as ‘not real’, though some of the areas she had made up apparently did match the description of actual exotic wonders of nature.

Eventually, her eyes found the Desert. Up North, beyond the mountains and then two dozen nations further. A long way, multiple times the span of the entire Federation… but that was where Fate awaited. That was where they would go. Elizabeth still carefully finished pretending to read the other entries. Most likely her mother was just guessing she wanted to go North, given that Elizabeth herself had just found out.

“Happy?” Avys smiled. “It is a small thing, yet I wonder if it should be free. You do insist on being paid for Alice’s knowledge as well.”

“I want everything our House has on imbibing ambrosia: Every ritual, spell, thesis, or artifact that makes the process easier in my hands,” Elizabeth made her demand instead of reacting.

“But not an ambrosia itself,” Avys noted. “Even you will not be ready for another for at least a few decades, not to mention the scarcity. Now that certainly makes me wonder what is it that Irwyn had dreamt of.”

“Nothing your fingers will be able to find,” Elizabeth allowed a grin to crack her lips. “Nor steal from under our own hands.”

“It would be difficult to smuggle out those artifacts,” Avys noted, returning to the original demand. “And risky. Far more risk than what you have provided me is worth.”

“Yet it is still what I demand,” Elizabeth grit her teeth, calling Avys’ bluff.

“How serious are you about keeping Alice,” Avys changed the topic seemingly out of nowhere.

“I like her, and so does Irwyn,” she carefully replied, unsure about the purpose of that question.

“She is going to be more trouble than she is worth for you,” Avys sighed. “At least in pure, logical benefit. But I can already see you will not give her up easily.”

“Trouble was obvious given the Fate of Steelmire,” Elizabeth frowned. “Yet you still feel the need to warn me. As if you suspected something specific. As if…”

“...I already knew who was responsible?” Avys smiled.

“It wasn’t you, right?” Elizabeth asked, because that would be very problematic.

“Something so wasteful?” Avys raised an eyebrow. “I assure you that had it been done by my hand the circumstances would be far less suspicious with a lot less evidence left behind.”

“Then why do you even need Alice?” she questioned.

“Because more confirmation is always better,” Avys shrugged. “And she may yet fill in some gaps. What happened at Steelmire had been done sloppily. With great effort but without true prior planning. A bit… spur of the moment. A desperate atrocity. What I want to understand better is the why.”

“Who?” Elizabeth had to ask.

“Telling you at this point would be a mistake,” the Duchess simply shrugged. “You will find out yourself in time.”

“Isn’t it always you who says I mustn’t step over your lines?” Elizabeth spat. Apparently, her mother was so confident about which secrets she shouldn’t know yet, whether they directly concerned her or not. “How am I supposed to do that if you refuse to even show them?”

“Ah, but this is quite different,” Avys laughed. “Now that I know their Fate is sealed, I can plan around it. Maneuver myself into a position to take full advantage of their eventual death. Prepare to dodge the fallout and bring it upon the heads of our enemies.”

“Good for you,” Elizabeth grunted. It was true that whoever was responsible would have to die and that eventually, Elizabeth would be beyond stopping. It did not make her particularly happy that her mother was already planning on how to benefit while keeping details hidden.

“You will have your artifacts,” Avys returned to the original demand.

“I will?” she was doubtful it would be as easy.

“On one extra condition, of course.”

“There always is.”

“When you hunt down Alice’s nemesis, I will be kept in the loop,” Avys inclined her head. “And you will deliver me one specific item from the corpse.”