Chapter 281 – Unification

Mirian felt quite a bit of satisfaction when she saw Lily and Beatrice walking together. A nice little reunion. For them, it had only been about a year. For her, far longer.

She would have to do something similar with Daith and his sister. Get a better sense of who in the Pure Blade was there for money, and who was there because they believed in the Corrmiers and their nasty little project.

Little by little, she met and talked with the people of Torrviol. That didn’t just mean the students and professors, either. She had conversations with the Akanan spies—except Specter, who had gleefully tried to further the project that had seen her memory cursed as a girl, even if she never knew the names of the targets, and Nathanial, the false guard captain who was as immovable as he was cruel. But people like Idras and Timmon were simply misguided patriots. Others, like Ayland and Gerard, the ones who were responsible for most of the blatant break-ins and intimidation, were young idiots. She had been a different flavor of “young idiot” once, so she couldn’t blame them too much.

She talked with Liamar about Rostal. She talked with Priest Krier about his rise through the Luminate Order. She chatted with Calisto about her father and the Ennecus Guild. She listened to Ingrid discuss her philosophy on craft and creation. She even had a conversation with Platus, the fool who liked to blow himself up in the alchemistry building, though that was an unpleasant experience, and she ended the conversation much earlier than she intended.

Then, when she was done reconnecting with the people she’d known, she moved on to meeting new people. The merchants whose wares she had purchased so many times, but whose stories she didn’t know. The apprentice researchers in Torrian Tower who she ordered about, but had never really talked to. The farmers who worked just outside town and kept an eye on the spellward barrier. Some of the professors who she’d seen, but never taken classes from.

Mirian then took time to rest and relax, tracing the conversations through her mind, stashing them in the vaulted ceilings of the Mausoleum she dreamed.

Frostland’s Gate would be next. Then Cairnmouth. Then Palendurio. Then Alkazaria. And so on, until she’d shared dinners and conversation with people from the Rift Sea to the edge of Mayat Shadr.

First, though, there was a conversation she needed to have that was long overdue.

***

Mirian made some adjustments to her force shield’s shape on her way to Arborholm. With a bit of divination to give her hard numbers, she could assess just how fast she flew given different shield configurations. A pyramidal shape did alright, but a cone was far better, and a fluted cone seemed to help for some reason.

A few hours later, she landed and spent some time walking around the city, using a minor illusion to normalize her eyes. Of the four largest Akanan cities, she decided she liked Arborholm the best. The people were more relaxed and willing to chat, and the food was more interesting.

Liuan wasn’t there, though, but a nice priest told her the Prophet Liuan was in Ferrabridge.

Mirian thanked him and flew on.

That trip was significantly shorter. Coming into Ferrabridge from above was quite the sight. The first thing she saw was the crater in the western part of the city. The shattered factories still hadn’t been cleared, though earth mages had been steadily working on leveling out the crater, and the houses were steadily being rebuilt.

The city was dominated by its many factories, including the massive ironworks south of Ferramont. Trains loaded with ore moved back and forth between the sharp-peaked mountain’s mines and the city. There was enough fossilized myrvite being burned that she felt the prickle of the toxic mana on her aura even flying above it.

It was fairly easy to narrow down where Liuan would be in the central district, and then her soul-sight allowed her to quickly pick out the two souls with temporal anchors in them. She expected Liuan to be with either Jherica or Celen, but was surprised to see Gabriel. He was working on getting the various princes and warlords of Persama under his thumb. Though, she conceded, Lord Saiyal is in Akana, as are several other prominent representatives. I only assumed he’d be in Persama, even though half of the economic dynamic is here and institutions like the RID are probably even more important to control than most Persaman institutions.

That saved her some time anyways. Gabriel was implicated in Liuan’s scheme, so she might as well chat with both of them together.

The two of them were meeting with a group of people—factory owners, she thought, but maybe that was the city council?—so Mirian spent some time trying out new foods. She found the constant sting of mana distracting, and the food was… interesting. They used strange flavored sauces to drench their food, but the meat was prepared shoddily and she found the spices lacking.

She overpaid with a silver florin, then flew to meet them as the meeting was wrapping up.

“Hello,” she said as she flew in through the window.

Gabriel swore loudly and dropped his wine glass. Liuan had started to cast something, but then stopped when she saw who it was.

“Why are you here?” Liuan said, voice on edge.

A pair of guards appeared by the door. “Sacred One?” one asked, hand resting on the hilt of a wand.

“We’re fine,” Liuan snapped, not looking away from Mirian.

“Our last reconciliation was an alignment of goals, but not one of ideology—or trust,” Mirian said. “I taught Ibrahim how to soul-bind, and gave him a focus. Liuan, I assume you already know about soul-bound materials. In fact, I’m sure you’ve bound at least one of the Prophet’s relics.”

Liuan’s neck muscles were tight. “What is this about, Mirian?”

“When Troytin ambushed me, I became paranoid something else like it could happen again. And, I discovered a finite strategic resource. When I met you, I wanted to trust you—but I also couldn’t bring myself to. I want to apologize.”

Liuan glanced at Gabriel. Gabriel said, “You do understand that flying through a window is not how normal people enter a room?”

Mirian conjured a chair made of force and sat on it. “I didn’t want to do it through the dream. I think by now we all know the Ominian didn’t remove Troytin from the loop. I did. If I wanted to remove either of you from the loop, I could have done it long ago. I don’t want to. I want allies. Not subjects. Not begrudging associates. Allies.”

Liuan stared at Mirian, then said, “I was wondering when you’d finally admit it.” Gabriel’s eyes widened in alarm, but Liuan waved him off. “I was on Tyrcast’s airship in disguise when you blew it up and absconded with Troytin. I died in the crash, of course, but I knew you were lying to me the day I first actually met you.”

Gabriel made an incredulous face and looked back and forth between Liuan and Mirian. Then he picked up a new wine glass from the table and started taking a long sip.

Mirian let out a long breath. “I can’t change what I’ve done.” Then she burst out laughing. “That’s funny, given our circumstance, where we do that every loop. But to each other, we can’t change what we’ve done. Even this little bit of linear causality, and it still restrains us. Moving forward, I want us to be far more honest. I visited Luamin—”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Gabriel spewed out a mouthful of wine. “You WHAT?!”

“Jherica was taking too long, and I wanted to see what was up there. I’ll share most of my discoveries in the dream council, but the point I wanted to make is I discovered we have a lot more time in the loop. Far too much, actually. We need to reach a permanent peace with each other. One where we can support each other. I can’t be worrying that Liuan is going to send an army at Torrviol, and she can’t be worrying that I’ll snatch her anchor away.”

“I—” Liuan started to say, then clamped her mouth shut.

Gabriel set down the wine glass and reached for the bottle, then sprawled back in one of the fancy chairs around the conference table. “Liuan, tell her. She obviously already knows. That’s Mirian’s style, by the way. She figures out the truth, then sees if you’re willing to admit it. If you’re going to unfuck this, you should tell her something she doesn’t already know.”

Liuan let out a breath. “Then you already know Scebur was a fiction for probing the capacities of other Prophets while maintaining my own reputation. I faked my death in two of the cycles. I wanted to develop a contingency plan for dealing with… you.”