“Leon,” the Director stated, his tone neutral, but coming with the subtlest undercurrent of surprise as Leon walked into his office.  The elder man was sitting behind his desk, but as Leon entered, he sat for only a moment longer before he slowly got to his feet and walked around his desk.  “What’s going on?”

Leon recognized a slight tinge of concern in the Director’s voice at this point, so he held up his hand in a conciliatory gesture and hurriedly said, “Nothing immediate, but… of some concern nonetheless.”

“I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with what we discussed yesterday,” the Director replied.

“No,” Leon said.  “Actually, it’s a problem that has come up a few times before, but I never thought it important enough to bring up.  That’s changed.”

“Please, fill me in.”

Leon nodded and quickly told the Director of the Lord Protector and Grand Druid’s increasingly frequent ‘warnings’ about elements in their respective Empires growing more and more nervous about Leon’s rising power.

The Director didn’t verbally respond immediately.  His expression, while still fairly clinical, had shifted to something just a little more thoughtful.

“Have you heard anything about this?” Leon asked.

“Nothing immediately springs to mind,” the Director answered.  “Though, the inner workings of the Empires can be opaque, even to us in Heaven’s Eye.  We are not all-knowing, though we likely know far more about the Empires than they’d like.  If what these two told you is true, and let’s just assume for the moment that it is, then there are only a handful of people who might have these opinions that we won’t have heard about.  High ministers privy to the most sensitive of meetings, men and women accustomed to speaking privately and not sharing secrets for any reason whatsoever.”

“Can we move against them?”

The Director gave Leon a look of displeased surprise.  “No.  These people are too highly placed for us to move against publicly—”

“Not what I meant.  Was too brief, I guess.  I mean, if they’re actually worried about me—and us, by extension—then if they were to make their… lack of trust, shall we say, more keenly felt, then what might our options be to protect ourselves?”

“You ask as if you have a preference for a particular course of action?”

“Action is my preference.”  Leon smiled and let his prodigious killing intent spill out just a little bit.  “My patience for these games is limited.  I’ve already considered… other, less-than-attractive options, but since we’re in a partnership, I wanted to know what options we might have that wouldn’t involve me looking for someone more powerful than the Empires, or launching an all-out attack on an Imperial Palace or something.”

“Try not to do that latter one, it would be terrible for business.”

“I’ll keep your preference in mind.”

“I’m sure you will.  Violence isn’t a tool that Heaven’s Eye frequently employs outside of peacekeeping operations in Occulara.  We pay others to do that for us.  And no one we could possibly pay, aside from certain groups that I would not have us associate with—anymore, at any rate—might be more willing to dirty their hands in some back-alley skullduggery, but at the level we’re speaking of, it would make an assault on the villa of the Chief of Security of Heaven’s Eye by some desperate vampires look like a sane idea in comparison.”

Leon did his best to hide his disappointment, but he couldn’t help but smile self-deprecatingly.  “Thought that might be the case.  Still… don’t like it, but not surprised.  But, to go back to what you said earlier, there are only a few people to who this information might apply, and it’s possible that it was a lie in the first place?”

The Director was silent for a long moment, his eyes narrowing slightly the only outward sign that he was thinking particularly intensely about the problem.

“The way I see it, Leon,” he eventually said, “there are a couple of options here.  The least likely, in my opinion, is that the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid were telling the truth.  Or the whole truth, at any rate.  They are akin to gods in their Empires.  If they vouched for you, then few would have the audacity to advise against their set course of action.”

“Few, but not none.”

“Not none.  But let me ask you, Leon: what would you do in these ministers’ positions?  Someone potentially dangerous has entered your territory.  They haven’t shown themselves to be hostile yet, but you know of them.  What do you do?”

“Frustratingly vague question with many possible answers depending on context,” Leon grumbled.  “I suppose I might want to keep an eye on them.  Maybe task some subordinates with devising a contingency plan for if this dangerous person chooses hostility.”

“Heh.  You landed on the answer I wanted.”

“I aim to please.”

“So, contingencies.  If people were complaining to either the Grand Druid or the Lord Protector, then we might expect them to be preparing some kind of contingencies against you, would we not?”

“A reasonable expectation, I think.”

“Depends on the contingency.  But so far, Heaven’s Eye hasn’t picked up on anything that might suggest any contingencies have been put into place.  They’re keeping an eye on you, of course, but as far as we can tell, there are no special task forces devoted to remaining on standby in case you show yourself a conqueror, as your ancestors were.  There have been no allocations of vast resources, secret or otherwise that Heaven’s Eye can detect that might suggest they’re preparing to deal with you in a more permanent manner—and given how integrated we are with the plane’s logistics, we would detect just about anything.”

“Would we be able to separate any potential task force with those ‘just’ keeping an eye on me?”

“The people we put on this are competent, serious, and they take their jobs seriously.”

“Guess I’ll take your word for it, then.”

“So, if there are people complaining behind the scenes, then nothing practical is being done to move against you—or us.  Which means the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid are merely using those complaints to apply pressure.”

Leon grimaced, but his lack of surprise was, in itself, no longer surprising.  “What do you think is more likely, then?” he asked.

“That the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid simply lied to you in order to put more pressure on you to do what they want while you’re still weak enough to be manipulated like this.”

“If that’s the case, then what should I do?  Turn them down when they ask me to fulfill the terms of our agreement to keep the Keeper off of us?  I don’t think that would go over well.”

“Certainly not, and I would not suggest such a thing.  But we need to at least discuss what we ought to do, which will inform any responses we might be more capable of giving later on.”

Leon smiled.  He and the Director were both ninth-tier mages.  Mages of such power were common enough in the Empires that they weren’t a military threat to the Imperial order, and they had no real answer for the Empires’ tenth-tier mages.  That would change entirely if both he and the Director managed to reach the tenth-tier, however.  Suddenly, Heaven’s Eye would be able to match an Empire and even exceed any one of them in certain respects.  Beyond that, they had both Jason Keraunos’ personal ark and Nestor.

To put it simply, while their options to move against the Empires were much more limited now, they wouldn’t always be so.

‘Of course, the Empires would be fools not to plan for such a change in the status quo,’ Leon contemplated, though given what the Director had just said, it seemed that whatever their plans were for dealing with an ascendant Heaven’s Eye hadn’t been meaningfully changed by his presence within the guild.

“If anything’s most likely, I would think they’re just trying to squeeze you for anything they can get before you leave, as you’ve so often made clear is your intention.”

Leon hummed and nodded.  Making clear to the Grand Druid and Anastasios that he had no intentions of messing with Aeterna, and would eventually leave for the Nexus, was, at least in his opinion, a key piece in convincing them that he wasn’t a threat.  If they knew he wasn’t going to be sticking around, then no real reason to overly fear him.  But on the other hand, it also meant that they likely wouldn’t think too hard about annoying him with requests, for it wasn’t like he was going to be sticking around, was he?  Better get what they can, while they can, before the golden goose stopped laying eggs.

“So, then,” Leon said tiredly, “what should we do about this?”

“Nothing.  That seems to be the most prudent course of action, at least for you.”

“When you say ‘nothing’, do you mean that I should go home, lock the door, and never leave?  I’m all for that, but I don’t think that’s what you mean.”

“No, I suppose since I’m not being clear enough for you, what I think is most prudent is to stay the course.  Perform the duties they ask, but no more.  But only to the letter; no need to help them any more than needed.”

“And you?  What are you going to do?”

“There are other options available that I can use to make sure that those in power in both of these Empires don’t see us as enemies, even as we slowly gather power.”

Leon nodded his agreement but lingered for a moment as the Director grabbed a piece of paper and began scrawling down some notes—potential actions to take in this regard, as far as Leon could tell from a brief glance.

“Is there something else you wished to discuss?” the Director asked, not looking up from his notes.

“You…  Have I ever brought up my longer-term goals with you?”

“Leaving this plane for the Nexus?  That goal I share, as you well know.”

“As I know well, yes.  But I meant long-term goals on this plane.”

The Director’s hand stopped writing and he finally turned to look at Leon, his yellow eyes narrowing slightly.  “What do you mean?”

“The Sky Devils,” Leon simply said.  It seemed that was all he needed, for the Director closed his eyes, sighed, and turned to face him completely.

“I don’t recall you ever bringing them up with me before, at least not in regard to your plans for them.  We’ve discussed them plenty enough.  I assume you want to win them over to your side?”

Leon gave the Director a half-smile and a shrug.  “That’s as good a way to put it as any I could say.  Was wondering what your opinions on the matter may be since they wouldn’t just be joining my side, but ours.”

The Director gave him a strange look, but then nodded in a way that Leon took to be half respectful, and all surprised.

“I… I have no specific problems with the Sky Devils.  Or perhaps I ought to say ‘personal’.  I have no ‘personal’ problems with the Sky Devils.  They may want me dead for heading Heaven’s Eye and being affiliated with the Empires, but if they were to leave me alone, I would not invite conflict.”

“Right.  Heaven’s Eye was established by my Clan, but sided with the natives of this plane when my Clan fell.”

The Director frowned in thought.  “A rather simplistic retelling, but not inaccurate.  Heaven’s Eye is made up of many surviving institutions set up by your Clan to facilitate their occupation.”

Leon looked away for a moment, a thought springing to mind.  “That… well, maybe that can be used to our advantage.  ‘I’ve taken back Heaven’s Eye, now follow me back to glory!’  Or something of that nature, maybe.”

“Not… the worst plan I’ve ever heard.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming…”

“No ‘buts’.  No asses, rumps, or hindquarters, either.”

Leon stared at the Director, disbelief rampaging through his mind.  “Did you… just make a joke?  What luck did I wake up with to witness such a rare event?”

“The kind that won’t last long if you continue poking fun at me.”

Leon smirked.  “Say what you want, but I think you may have missed your calling as a comedian.  Trust me, I’ve rued not going down that particular career path myself.”

“I’m quite happy with where I am, even with all the problems it brings.”  Despite his serious tone, the Director smiled as he ended his sentence.  Leon almost felt bad that he was about to wipe it off the old man’s face.

“Back to the matter at hand…  The Sky Devils.  What are your opinions about them?  I would rather have them follow us to the Nexus, if possible, but if the rest of their people are left behind to the mercies of the Empires, then I doubt that would ever be on the table.”

“True.  If all of the Sky Devil’s most powerful mages were to vanish tonight, then their people would find themselves conquered and possibly enslaved—at least in all but name—and possibly even slaughtered within a millennium.  They know this.  They’d likely do the same if the disappearance was reversed.”

“And if I were to try and make peace with them?  What would you do then?”

“I would… not be happy—I don’t think peace is possible between us, as I’ve told you before—but war is bad for business.”

“I’ve heard the same, but seen the opposite.”

“Trade through the Veins of Vigilance is down more than fifty percent from where it was six years ago.  Trade along other routes has stepped up, but overall trade is still down by a wide margin.  The planar economy has taken a grave hit with this outbreak of war, even if defense industries are thriving.”

“Isn’t Heaven’s Eye thriving in this environment?”

“It’s doing better than most, but that’s more due to our position and our wise administration than anything.”

Leon nodded.  “You’re saying quite a lot of words, but I’m not hearing definitive statements of opinion on my intentions.  So I’ll say this plainly, and I would like it if you were to respond in kind.  I want to go to the Sky Devil’s Hell and try to win them over to my cause.  I would leave this plane to rebuild my Clan, and I would have my Clan’s old vassals at my back when I reach the Nexus.”

“A fine thing,” the Director observed, though he wore a light scowl.  “That would likely raise your legitimacy amongst those who remember your old Clan.”

“That’s part of it, sure.  But also because a King needs a Kingdom, and building one entirely from scratch in the Nexus doesn’t sound easy.  I’d rather have the foundations at least ready when I reach the Nexus.  So.  Peace and an alliance of some form with the Sky Devils.  What say you?”

The Director didn’t immediately answer, but Leon was fine with that, giving the man all the time he needed to ponder the issue.  Given the political ramifications, it was an issue that needed as much consideration as they could give it.

Eventually, the Director said, “I am… I have administered Heaven’s Eye as well as I could for a long time.  But in the course of my duties and my drive to achieve my goals, I’ve made allies with unsavory beings.  Even before the vampires, I had done things that I do not look back on with pride.  Things that cost me dearly, including the life of my beloved wife, the mother of my daughter.

“Leon.  Others might disparage you for seeking peace with the Sky Devils.  I will not.  I understand your desire to win them over.  I think, if the Empires knew what I know about you, they would gladly throw you at the Sky Devil’s Hell in the hope that you could convince them all to just leave already and let this plane go back to its state of blissful peace.

“Unfortunately, they do not know you as I do, so they’d likely scream in incoherent rage at the idea of sending you there, worried that you would lead them in a massive conquest of the rest of the plane.  Of course, if you were to do such a thing, I would not support you.  But since I know what your goal is, then… I suppose I do.  The technology of the Sky Devils is quite advanced, and in many ways, even more so than that of the Empires.  Having them on our side would increase our odds of reaching the Nexus quite spectacularly.

“So, Leon, in plain terms: You could be named King of the Sky Devils, and it wouldn’t change our alliance.  So long as it remains a partnership and not that of King and vassal.  Peace between them and the Empires may not be possible in a traditional sense, but that won’t matter if they leave with us for the Nexus.”

Leon’s smile about split his face in half.  While he would never even pretend that he was some great interpreter of human body language, he still didn’t detect any signs of deceit or misdirection in the Director’s declaration.  He was, as far as Leon could tell, sincere.  “We should discuss this later, then.  For now, I think I’ve taken enough of your time.  We can’t have the Empires getting too suspicious of the time I spend in your office, can we?”

As he walked to the door, he paused.

“Thank you, Director,” he whispered.  “It’s rare to see someone show such trust in me.  Kind of strange, actually.  But you have my thanks, anyway.”

“And you have mine, Leon,” the Director said, standing with his back to the window, his body shrouded in shadow once more, as he almost always was when sitting behind his desk.  “With this alliance of ours, I can actually foresee achieving my goals before my death.  Before it, I honestly didn’t think I would ever succeed, though I never stopped trying.”

Leon smiled again, though this one was a bit more self-deprecating.  “All right, let’s not go counting our chickens before they’ve hatched.  But we’ll speak more later.  For now, I have to prepare for heading back to the Sacred Golden Empire.”

And with that, Leon took one last look at the Director, who stared back unflinchingly, his yellow eyes all Leon could see within his shadowed form and took his leave.

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