The clash of steel on steel was a balm for the bored mind, even if it was only in training.

“Keep that weapon up!” Leon shouted as he pressed against Daryun. His high strike was blocked as Daryun brought his sword to bear, Leon didn’t pull back, and the two fighters locked together as Leon stepped into Daryun’s personal space. Being the stronger mage, he overpowered the ninth-tier without much effort and knocked him down.

Daryun lay there, breathing hard, a dark look still in his eye that he’d had for hours, now.

After a month in Leon’s service, Daryun finally formally requested to head back to Kaarahi Castle and Alamati for a few weeks, and Leon was only too willing to give him his time. His trust was vindicated when Daryun returned after only two weeks, though Leon only had to look him in the eye for a moment to see that he was in a terrible mood. Hitting things really hard helped Leon to work through mental problems, so he dragged Daryun into Sakhmej’s training room, which had been heavily reinforced so that stronger mages could use it safely.

They’d been training for about an hour since then, with Leon focusing on shoring up Daryun’s sword skills since he determined that the man’s skill with the lance was more than adequate. Soon, they’d move onto more advanced weaponry that Leon would expect Daryun to master, but for the moment, teaching him the basics of the Raime style was Leon’s goal, and one he’d been working toward in the weeks after Daryun swore his fealty.

Unfortunately, his overall goal of getting the man to focus on something other than what was weighing on his mind didn’t seem to be working, and his movements were noticeably slower and sloppier than they had been before Daryun left. This wasn’t rust nor was it Daryun being lazy as far as Leon could tell, his mind was simply elsewhere.

“Keep moving,” Leon reiterated as he held out a hand to help Daryun up. “This style is all about aggression; keep your enemy on the back foot and never take a blow head-on when other options exist.”

“You’re three tiers higher than me, and have achieved Apotheosis,” Daryun growled as he hauled himself to his feet without taking Leon’s outstretched hand. “I can’t beat you in any conceivable straight fight.”

“That’s why we train. It’s also even more reason to not take hits you don’t have to. You could’ve deflected my blade or dodged, I made sure to give you enough time. Wind mages are quick on their feet even if they can’t quite match a light or lightning mage; you shouldn’t be having this much trouble.”

Daryun’s expression sharpened, and he assumed another stance, this one a slightly more advanced beginning stance in House Raime’s style where the sword is kept raised high instead of brandished in front—when held high, it was perpetually ready to strike with significant power. Leon was less fond of this stance as he was of the more traditional brandished-in-front basic stance or a lower stance where the blade is held at the ready closer to the legs, but if it worked for Daryun then that was all that mattered.

With an almost manic grin, Leon assumed the first ready stance, and after a moment of silence, both he and Daryun lunged at each other.

The former Keskenian, now Demetrian, began with an aggressive downward chop, his curved saber almost resembling a crescent moon as it caught the light. But Leon noted that he overcommitted, putting too much power into the blow, and using nothing more than a bit of leverage and the tip of his blade, he directed Daryun’s sword to miss leaving him in the perfect position to twist his wrist slightly, and rake his weapon across Daryun’s ribs.

As Daryun hissed in pain, the training blades having been cranked up a bit to give the two higher-tier mages some proper physical stakes, Leon said, “Better, but you left yourself open. Did my innocent observation strike close to a nerve?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Daryun stated as he lunged against, this time in an upward slash from a lower stance. This time, he didn’t seem to be using House Raime’s style but one that revolved more around sabers than straight swords, but it didn’t help him much, and in only three exchanges, he found himself once more knocked to the floor.

“And yet,” Leon stated, yet untouched throughout their entire training session, “you will. Because you’re distracted. I want to know why.”

Still breathing hard, Daryun glared up at him, then tossed away his saber and stared out of the nearest window. Leon waited for an interminably long time before his newest sworn warrior opened his mouth again.

“Home… is different. I still know a few people there, but… most are gone.”

“I know the feeling,” Leon said as he sat down next to the man. “Same place, new faces. Those new faces make it seem like a new place.”

Daryun’s morose demeanor shifted slightly. “You killed many of those I missed. In your attack on Imak’s fleet.”

Leon nodded slowly but made no apology.

“Some of those who rode with me in those last days had been with me for close to a century. Some watched me grow up. All are gone. All have been borne by the Unnamed God to wherever we go in death, off to meet everyone else who should be filling Kaarahi’s halls, but aren’t.”

A long sigh escaped him, and as the air passed his lips, he seemed to minutely relax.

“It wasn’t just those in the castle, either. A few old servants still know me even if almost all those who once shared my hearth have died in battle in recent years. Some old friends still linger down in Alamati, but they’ve moved on with their lives. I was sweet on a girl I knew in the port, but she… she got married a few years ago, and I never even knew.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Leon said. “Missed chances are the worst.”

Daryun grunted in agreement. “She has a lovely family, but I can’t help but wish it was my family. I… am not going to say that I never want to return, but… I won’t for a while.”

Leon nodded in understanding, feeling much the same about Aeterna. Most of those that he’d known there were gone. In most cases, those people had simply followed him to the Nexus, but in others…

It wasn’t a pleasant thought.

Daryun didn’t say much more, but Leon didn’t demand the words from him. He’d said all he needed, so he simply sat with the man in companionable silence for a few minutes until a knock came at the door.

“Enter!” Leon called out, and Lucianus opened the door.

“Your Majesty,” he formally said, “We’ve just detected Vice-Admiral Seeker-of-Mountain-Springs’ fleet arrive. They need about three hours to reorganize and reach Demetrion.”

Leon nodded and clapped Daryun on the shoulder. “Training’s over.”

Daryun nodded, saying nothing more even as they got to their feet and followed Lucianus out of the room. Their training could wait until there was no more official business to take care of.

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—

As Leon waited with his fleet in Sakhmej, a second fleet arrived—Anzu’s scouting fleet, returned early from the next planar cluster in their path. It was clear that something was wrong from the moment they appeared since many of the scout corvettes showed signs of damage, and Anzu’s flag ark sped ahead of the rest toward Demetrion. Leon watched intently from the newly-constructed Void observatory close to the palace, relaxing only when Anzu’s ark came in close enough to signal with comm lotuses that most of the damage was superficial, but regardless, the scouting mission had to be called off.

Leon intended to hear the reason why straight from his brother’s mouth, so he personally met Anzu as he exited his ark, the corvette deftly landing on one of Sakhmej’s few arkpads despite the battered and scored hull speaking of the violence encountered on the mission.

“Brother!” Anzu thundered as soon as the corvette’s door opened. He leaped out and landed in front of Leon, bowing to show his deference even as Leon waved that aside.

“Anzu! What happened out there?!” Leon demanded.

Anzu laughed even as he cringed slightly. “Our information going in was… faulty. We thought those three planes to be much like Kesken w—or as Demetrion was: disunited and hardly a match for us, especially in the Void.”

For a moment, fury and elation warred within Leon—fury at his people apparently having been attacked and elation at finding an opponent to test himself against. But he contained himself until he heard the whole thing. With a wave, he signaled for Anzu to follow him into the palace where several others, including Anshu and Red, were waiting. Despite his burning curiosity, Leon didn’t want this information to spread too much so he kept Anzu quiet until they got themselves within the welcoming embrace of strong privacy enchantments.

“Continue,” Leon ordered.

Anzu nodded and glanced at his adjutants who had followed him and Leon into the palace. One of them laid a small crystal on the table in the sitting room, and it projected an image of the three planes in question. They were close together, closer even than the planes in the Demetrion Cluster; close enough that their respective suns could be easily seen on the horizon even during the day.

“These three planes have united under a single banner,” Anzu said. “They have Void-capable arks in significant numbers, though I’m unsure about post-Apotheosis mages. When I and my scouts reached the cluster, we were immediately challenged by a task force roughly equivalent to three destroyers and eight frigates. There was a bit of a standoff, but I managed to convince them that we were heralds of a trading guild looking for new markets.”

“Quick thinking,” Leon observed.

Anzu shrugged. “I doubt they really bought it; we’re not exactly trade arks. But… they made the invitation anyway, and I accepted.”

“Was there any indication that this cluster had been united by a power from the Nexus?” Anshu asked, his face sternly set and his arms crossed over his chest.

“None that I could see,” Anzu admitted. “That’s not to say that it’s impossible, though, because when I met with the Emperor, I… was surprised. He’s a child, barely twenty years old and not even fifth-tier.”

Leon’s eyes did their best imitation of dinner plates, and several others in the room wore similar expressions.

“That young?” he asked skeptically. “And weak?” Not being the strongest person in his Kingdom wasn’t that hard for him to imagine—there was a time when Iron-Striker was stronger than him even though he was the acknowledged King of the Ten Tribes—but that was soon rectified, and it felt like everything was sliding into place with that gain in power. A King who wasn’t the strongest in his Kingdom was vulnerable to usurpation, insubordination, and rebellion. That danger was magnified as the disparity in power grew between ruler and ruled.

“He… didn’t seem to be truly in charge,” Anzu explained. “There was a regency council handling things in his stead. They… did not take kindly to our presence, but we were treated courteously enough. Until we weren’t.”

Everyone’s focus narrowed onto Anzu as he gave voice to what happened next.

“We were given an escort to explore the city alongside, which seemed to perpetually grow larger. We weren’t given many meetings with the regency council, and they never gave us straight answers about when they might let us leave or what they thought of opening up a strategic partnership with ‘the powers that I represent’. Soon, our exploring privileges were curtailed and our escort grew large enough to dispel the convenient fiction that they were merely escorts. We had to fight our way out of the palace and back to our ark, and from there, we rejoined the fleet in the Void.”

“They clearly didn’t let you leave without a fight,” Anshu stated.

“No,” Anzu confirmed. “Their one task force had been reinforced several times. Our scouts could’ve handled that first task force that met us in the cluster’s Voidspace, but they had grown to ten times that number by the time we decided to flee. It was not a peaceful affair, but we managed to escape with all arks intact, though most need repairs. I think there were a few casualties on the most heavily damaged arks, but they were light enough to not be obvious to me. I’ll have a fuller report by the end of the day.”

“It’s good you made it back,” Leon said as he laid a hand on Anzu’s shoulder. The albino griffin-in-human-form nodded back with a proud smile.

“It presents a problem for us, though,” Anshu stated, drawing a glare from Leon that prompted him to clarify. “Not Anzu’s escape, of course, but rather that the escape was needed at all. Anzu, what do you think the chances are that there are even more arks in that cluster than what you encountered?”

“It’s almost certain. And likely some larger war arks, too, that were probably held in reserve given how small my fleet is.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me. So, that leaves us with a problem: they will be waiting for us, now, and in force. We’ll have to prepare for Void combat.”

“Good opportunity, though,” Red lazily stated, drawing attention her way. “The best way to end a territorial dispute is to go for the throat; their leader is weak, so kill him and take his territory.”

“Simple as that, huh?” Leon asked, his lips twitching in amusement.

“It might just be,” Anzu responded. “From what I could tell, their civilian ark industry is robust enough to dwarf their military capabilities—most of their arks are large trade or transport vessels without weapons or meaningful armor. There were at least five hundred moving between the planes when we arrived, and I have to assume that there are hundreds more, each one at least as large as a heavy cruiser if not one of our older carriers. That speaks to a fairly tightly-knit and centralized Empire. If their Emperor abdicates in favor of my brother, then all three planes would fall into our hands easily enough.”

“Matters of thrones are never so clean,” Leon said. “But this is promising.” He paused long enough to glance out of a window, noting that more arks were coming in to land. “Looks like Cosmo’s here. Admiral Anshu, I trust you’ll have the fleet ready for battle when the time comes?”

“I’ll formulate a working strategy,” Anshu said with a nod of his head. “Our focus right now is on the rest of the Demetrion Cluster, but I’ll make sure to organize some patrols just in case Anzu was followed.”

“That likely?” Leon asked.

“Not from what I saw,” Anzu answered. “Void-capable, but they can’t jump like we can, so they’re kind of stuck in their own little cluster.”

“Still, better to be safe than caught unawares…”

“See to it, then,” Leon commanded, and Anshu once more nodded. With that, Leon pulled Anzu by the shoulder out of the room to let the military minds formulate their plans. He wanted to stay, but they needed this experience without him breathing down their necks.

“So,” Anzu said as the doors closed behind their small party, which included Anzu’s adjutants, Daryun, and half a dozen Tempest Knights, “looks like some things have changed around here…” The way his gaze lingered on Daryun told Leon what he was referring to, but he didn’t immediately address Daryun directly. “But I have to ask first… What’s going on with Cosmo?”

“I decided he’ll be the new Planarch,” Leon explained. “He’s bringing Anora with him, too.”

“Really? I thought he wanted to stay in Artorion for a while. Weren’t he and Anora looking to have another kid?”

“You’ll have to ask him about that,” Leon replied.

Cosmo, Alcander and Sofia’s eldest son, had married Anora, Gaius and Alix’s eldest daughter. Together, they had two sons, though both were now adults with other positions in Leon’s bureaucracy. Their younger son, Perdiccas, was one of the Tempest Knights that had followed Leon on this expedition, though he was currently off-duty.

“I don’t envy him right now,” Anzu said as they walked toward Cosmo’s landing ark.

“Wife, two kids, position, prestige, looks, magic, but you don’t envy him?” Leon asked skeptically.

“All those are great, to be sure, but you’re making him deal with this plane. That’s going to get messy.”

Daryun finally interjected, his tone a little testy. “We could make it very messy if we’re not treated with respect.”

Anzu frowned and glared back at him. “Who are you?!” he demanded.

“Come on,” Leon said with a laugh as he made sure the two kept walking. “I’ll explain on the way. Then maybe can get in a bit more training, yeah? Seems like you both could use it…”

Though the two clearly weren’t taking to one another just yet, Leon felt sure that once they started hitting each other with weapons enchanted to not maim or permanently harm, they’d work that out of their system. And if not… he supposed he’d have to figure something else out.

For the moment, though, his mind raced with thoughts of a proper battle against a prepared foe. The next cluster in the expedition was looking enticing already…

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