Leon spent much of his time on the flight back south conferring with his advisors on Kataigida.  Nothing of great importance was discussed, but he wanted to be kept informed on the progress of certain projects—most notably building arks, manufacturing potential golem bodies for the stone giants, the process of acquiring rare materials for use in building new arks and repairing the Thunderbird arks Leon now had in his possession, and finally, the continued expansion of the bureaucracy.

On that last point, Iron-Striker wasn’t running into any trouble ensuring that the Tribes paid taxes, keeping the newly-named Thunder Kingdom solvent even as the administrators that were needed to run the Kingdom were hired and trained.  Leon fully expected that the number of bureaucrats working in his Kingdom to double in just a matter of years, though even that was unlikely to be enough.  Iron-Striker had estimated that to build a proper Royal government that could rule over the Ten Tribes would take at least ten years, and while Leon was a little skeptical of that time frame, he still accepted that his administration and military forces were going to take a few more years to fully build out.

On the acquisition of rare materials, Leon had gotten in contact with Tikos again, requesting an update.  When Leon had departed Kataigida, Tikos had indicated it was working on some secret project, but the tree sprite was so far unwilling to explain much, reasoning that it didn’t want to set unrealistic expectations.

Leon was confident that if he pressed the issue, Tikos would tell him what he wanted to know, but he trusted the tree sprite and decided to give it the freedom it wanted to work.  He just hoped Tikos would be ready for a more detailed update once he returned…

Titanstone was another material that Leon desperately needed to begin repairs on the arks the Director had dropped off.  He needed other rare materials that even the Ten Tribes couldn’t get their hands on, like Aurichalcum and Lumenite, but Titanstone was the one they needed most of all.  Fortunately, the Tribes—mostly the Spiders—who operated the island’s Titanstone quarries in the far southeast were doing what they could to increase production.  That Titanstone would have to be processed, too, and increasing refinery output required investment and buildout of the relevant facilities, which all required more time and money.

As for the stone giants, Leon’s talks with Nestor indicated that the dead man had set up a relatively small golem production line in Stormhollow with the aid of some Ravens, which would be operated by the inhabitants of a large Hawk hall—about two hundred people.  Nestor was a bit upset that he had to devote his time and attention to this when he would’ve rathered spent his time with Storm Herald or any of the other Thunderbird arks, but Leon insisted.  He expected results from the dead man upon his return.

All-in-all, Leon was fairly satisfied that enough was getting done that after a couple days of taking care of business remotely, he turned his attention back to his personal affairs.  Elise, Maia, Valeria, and Cassandra did their best to monopolize his time, but he made sure to spend plenty of time with the rest of his retainers.

And, perhaps just as importantly, he jumped out of Silver Spear and popped over to Cassandra’s ark…

---

“I apologize again for the accommodations,” Leon said with an embarrassed grimace as he took a seat in the ark’s largest room.  Despite the room’s relative size, Rakos still had to curl up quite a bit so that it could fit.

“Do not apologize for that which gives no offense, Divine One,” Rakos responded about as quietly as its boulder body could manage.  Arks, especially from the inside, could be sensitive to vibration, so the stone giant had to be careful with its speech.

“You’re too gracious,” Leon said.  “You have your entire species bottled up inside you; it’s fine to be a little selfish, you know…”

“There is never an excuse for such behavior,” Rakos replied.  “We will endure any hardship to return to the Thunderbird Clan’s service.  And this is hardly a trying test.”

“Is that so…” Leon murmured.  “I’ll admit that I was wondering about that…  How is it that so many giants have managed to fit themselves into your body?  Such a vast concentration of power seems like it ought to be more unstable, given the circumstances…”

Leon’s eyes wandered over Rakos’ compacted form.  The rubies glittering along its surface were relatively small, hardly up to the task of holding even a single wisp, let alone dozens of stone giants apiece.  And yet, while Rakos’ aura with its entire species hitching a ride in its shell was dense, it was also remarkably stable.  Leon could tell that there was no more danger of cataclysmic explosion than if he were playing with a regular magically-charged ruby.

“We are incorporeal beings by nature,” Rakos explained, its cadence slowing slightly.  “Our shells are prepared to contain us during our reproductive cycle.  There is much stability to be had in stone.”

“Huh,” Leon softly grunted.  He wasn’t quite satisfied with that answer and asked, “Would you allow me to examine you more closely?”

“This is no problem at all, Divine One.”

Leon grinned.  He hadn’t expected Rakos to turn him down anyway, but he had to ask.

Getting up from his seat, Leon approached Rakos and ran his hand along the giant’s arms, brushing his fingertips against some of the rubies embedded in the shell.  He examined them closely with his eyes, his hands, and his magic senses, trying to determine just what was going on with Rakos’ body that mere stone and relatively unremarkable gems could hold such power.

It didn’t take long for him to discover a ‘current’ that was pulling magic inward.  The sheer amount of power contained in twelve thousand-ish golems was certainly immense, and all of that power seemed like it wanted to explode outward, but this current pulling that magic in had created an equilibrium that kept everything stable.

Leon pressed his senses further into Rakos, though he remained cautious of disturbing this equilibrium.  If he lessened this current at all, the consequences would be disastrous, potentially up to and including the destruction of Cassandra’s ark along with everyone on board.

He slowly probed deeper, feather-light tendrils of his magic power gliding through the boulders of Rakos’ shell, following this current of power.  Eventually, however, it led him into Rakos’ torso, and Leon wasn’t willing to proceed quite that far, where Rakos’ true lightning body resided.  However, with his magic senses already enveloping Rakos’ limbs, Leon settled in to examine in great detail just what he was perceiving.

Focusing on the current, Leon realized that he could sense tiny tendrils of magic both within and surrounding the current, magic that felt remarkably like ancient runes.  Leon immediately redoubled his caution, not wanting to accidentally activate any potential ancient runes that could be in operation here by ‘plucking’ these strings of power.

“Are you… using enchantments?” Leon asked even as he took in all he could of the current and the thin, nearly imperceptible tendrils of power that seemed to be controlling it.  As he spoke, he also retrieved some paper and writing utensils and began taking notes.

“I but invoke my power; no more, no less.”

Leon exhaled in amazement.  The more he examined these tendrils, the more they resembled the power of ancient runes.  And that would mean Rakos was either lying—which he doubted—or the giant was somehow using that kind of power naturally.

However, as much as Leon wanted to know more, he refrained from pushing any deeper with his magic senses.  Unfortunately, while this meant that Rakos wasn’t being put in any danger, it also meant that Leon was unable to see just what these ‘ancient runes’ were doing, other than drawing the magic power of twelve thousand giants deeper into Rakos’ shell.

“Is that power flowing into your soul realm?  Do… stone giants even have soul realms?”

Rakos’ answer came after a long pause.  “No.”

Leon waited a moment for further explanation but was disappointed when none came.  “No to the first?  Second?  Both?”  He supposed ‘no’ to the second was also ‘no’ to both, but there was room for nuance there, though.

“Both,” Rakos replied.

“Then where is all that power going?” Leon wondered.

Again, Rakos was silent for a long moment before answering again.  “I don’t know.  My people are safe and we’re returning to our creators, that’s all that matters.”

With a pronounced sigh, Leon let the matter drop for the moment.  He and Nestor would speak more on this front; he wanted to know just how Rakos was compressing all of this power, and if that was even what it was doing.

So, moving on, Leon retrieved the blue gemstone that a giant had used to grant him knowledge of the giant language.  It was a smooth and polished stone, defying his ability to identify it, yet resembling dark turquoise more than anything else.  What he found more befuddling, however, was that the gem was perfectly smooth, with no sign of enchantments anywhere on the gem, preventing him from intuiting how to use it.

“How do I use this?” he asked.  “I was hoping to let others learn your language so that we wouldn’t be dependent entirely on me to translate.”

“The Rumble Stone vibrates in tune with the holder.  Push magic through it and it will sing in your tones.”

Leon frowned for a moment before doing as instructed.  He pushed his magic into the stone and immediately felt the stone vibrate for a fraction of a second.  The power he felt enter the stone he sensed took on the darkness element, and he had to channel that element to control it.

“For others to learn our language,” Rakos said, “one of us will have to use the Rumble Stone.  For you to use it, it will only vibrate in your tones.”

Leon’s frown deepened slightly.  “So it will only impart the language of the wielder?”

“Yes.”

“That… reduces its use just a bit… but I suppose expands it, too.”

Leon knew that the Thunderbird Clan spoke a common language in the Nexus and that they brought that language to Aeterna when they conquered the plane.  That language was still in common use in the Bull Kingdom and Kataigida, but most places spoke other languages amongst the common people.  He counted himself fortunate that the language that the Thunderbird Clan brought, and which he still natively spoke, was still used as the common language on the plane despite the general feelings toward his Clan following their fall.

Leon didn’t have much business left to discuss with Rakos, but he did take some time to elaborate on what he was hoping the giants could do for him down in Kataigida—namely, interface with arks and act as the control wisps were supposed to.

Rakos had no idea if that was even possible, but it promised Leon that its people would do what was required of them.

After expressing his gratitude, Leon left Cassandra’s ark.

---

Leon’s training sword clashed with his opponent’s, easily withstanding the power of their strike.  The enchantments in the relatively large training room activated, ensuring that the two powerful mages didn’t upset the ark despite the strength they packed into their blows.  They didn’t have as much space to move around as Leon would’ve liked, but at least they weren’t going to knock the ark out of the sky.

Despite his style favoring aggression, Leon didn’t press his strength advantage.  He wasn’t sparring for himself so much as he was to get a good idea of how his opponent was doing.

And he wasn’t that encouraged.

Anna lunged forward, her blade moving so fast that it appeared to be little more than a flash of light.  However, Leon easily blocked again, noting as he did that it wasn’t even close to as fast as Anna was capable of, even with the handicaps they both took due to sparring inside Silver Spear.

As she fell back a bit, Leon advanced, knocking her weapon out of her hand and sweeping a leg out from under her.  He moved almost insultingly slow, making sure that his eighth-tier retainer could easily dodge or block if she wanted to.

But Anna hardly seemed to notice what he was doing until she hit the floor.

She rose with a sigh that told Leon further sparring wasn’t going to be that productive.

“You’re distracted,” Leon observed as he lowered his blade and dropped his stance.  Obligingly, Marcus sent Lucianus forward to take the weapons from Leon and Anna, and Leon spared the younger man a brief smile of thanks.

In response to his observation, Anna shrugged and moved out of the center of the room, wordlessly accepting the end of their spar.

Leon frowned and followed her, though not before ordering Alix and Gaius to spar next.  He made for the door and motioned for Anna to follow, which she did with a grimace.  Once they were alone in the adjacent room, Leon asked, “Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she responded with a sigh of resignation.  “I’m just… thinking about things.”

“These things must be heavy to leave you so distracted…”

“The future’s quite heavy.”

Leon gave her a reassuring smile and said, “Then let’s talk about it.  If there’s some problem that I can help fix…”

“No, no,” Anna hurriedly responded, “I’m just… being a bitch…”

Leon cocked an eyebrow, silently asking for elaboration.

Anna sighed again, took a long moment to compose herself, and explained, “It’s… about Eirene.”

“Your lady?”

Anna softly chuckled.  “Yes, my lovely, too-good-for-me lady.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Never been better,” Anna replied with a gentle smile.  “I… I think I love her.  Like, a lot.  Enough… that I’m thinking about…”  She shifted with embarrassment while Leon’s smile broadened.

“You’re thinking of taking things further?” he asked.  “Thinking about the big ‘M’?”

Anna smiled in embarrassment before her expression fell.  “We’ve… been together a while.  And… we… the…”

“Take your time,” Leon said soothingly as Anna struggled to put her thoughts into words.

His beastmaster retainer went quiet for a long moment, her face scrunching up more and more in thought.  Finally, she turned her eyes to his and said, “This whole trip has really put it into perspective: our time on this plane will come to an end.  You’re going to achieve Apotheosis and lead us to the Nexus.  That goal… is starting to look more and more realistic, isn’t it?”

Leon struggled to maintain his smile as he sputtered, “W-Well, you know, there’s going to be… uh, well…  Sure, yes, it’s coming closer.  I think we’re still a long way away from saying it’s plausible, but with the stone giants, new arks…  We’ll still have to rely on the Grave Warden, I think, but I suppose, yeah, our time on Aeterna will come to an end.  Whether that’s in a few years or a few decades, though, I can’t yet say.”

“Fair enough.  I’ve just been thinking about Eirene.  She…  Leon, you’ve been good to me and my sister.  I know Helen will follow you wherever you want her to go.  I don’t think she’d be quite as eager to say that out loud, but she’s enormously grateful for the resources and patronage you’ve given her.  She’ll follow you to the Nexus without a thought.

“I, though… I was like that…”

“… Until you met Eirene,” Leon finished.

Anna half-grimaced, half-grinned.  “We have no family left on this plane.  A few family friends, but until Eirene and I… Helen and I have no connections on Aeterna to miss us when we leave.  But Eirene has a large family, and I… I don’t know if I can take her away from them.”

Leon nodded in understanding.  “You love her and want to marry her, but you don’t want to make her choose between you and her family…”

Anna nodded.  “It’s easier now with comm stones and lotuses—she can get in contact with home whenever she wants, though with some difficulty.  If she were to come with us to the Nexus, she may never see her family again…  How can I ask her to come with us?  I don’t…”  She choked up, unable to finish her statement.

Leon wasn’t sure what to say as Anna’s eyes began to glimmer to unshed tears and her shoulders shook with barely-contained sobs.  So instead of saying anything, he gently laid a hand on her shoulder, and after a moment, pulled her into a hug.

She smiled gratefully and returned the hug.

“I won’t ask you to choose between me and her,” he whispered.  “Do as your heart bids.  But know that we’re already moving billions of people to the Nexus—I don’t think adding Eirene’s family to that group will present much of a challenge that we’re not already facing.  I’m not saying that we should make this offer flippantly, but know that we have options.”

Anna whispered, “Thanks, Leon,” as she pulled out of his hug.

“Talk to her,” he said.  “Get a read on what she wants.  If you want to marry her, she’ll be your partner in life, and you’ll have to share these decisions anyway.  So talk to her.”  He paused and gave her a stern look, though his lips twitched upward as he fought not to smile jokingly.  “That’s an order!  I can’t have one of my retainers so distracted!”

Anna laughed and replied, “Sure thing, sure thing.  Thanks for listening, Leon.”

“Don’t mention it,” Leon replied.  “Anything for one of my people.  For one of my friends.”

Anna grinned, wrapped her arms around him in another friendly hug, and together, the two made their way back to the training room.

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