With the capabilities given by Tikos’ comm lotuses, getting in contact with the Director was quite easy.  The only real obstacle was whether or not the Director was immediately available.  Fortunately, almost as soon as the magic from Leon’s call went out, it was answered.

The screen of light hovering in front of Leon illuminated, resolving into an image of the Director and Penelope in his office.  Both the Director and his daughter were sitting on the edge of his desk, though they both straightened up as the image clarified, likely in response to them seeing him.

“Leon,” the Director warmly intoned as he spread his arms in a welcoming gesture, “You’ve returned!”

“I did,” Leon stated with a smile and a nod, a little surprised that Emilie hadn’t yet warned him.  Though he supposed he hadn’t met with her yet, and he wasn’t sure what their communication pipeline looked like.  Regardless, it wasn’t a big deal and he put the issue out of his mind.

“A balm to my old and worried mind it is, to see you hale and hearty,” the Director stated.

“It would’ve made achieving our goals complicated if you went and disappeared, Leon,” Penelope added.

“It wouldn’t have meant good things for my goals either if I had vanished,” Leon agreed.  “But I’m back.  A bit too much went down while I was gone, but thankfully, everything here on Kataigida has been running fairly smoothly.”

“As it has here in Heaven’s Eye,” the Director stated.  “Our revenues have been soaring over the past few months as our supply chains have finally fully adapted to the exclusion of the Sentinels in our trade network.”

“Speaking of,” Leon said with a wry smile, “the Keeper himself sent me a handwritten letter that I read less than an hour ago.  He said nothing about Heaven’s Eye, but he did invite me to Memoria to negotiate my entrance to my Clan’s old capital.”

“Wonderful news,” the Director said, his tone indicating that he thought the opposite.

“But…?” Leon leadingly responded.

“But the Keeper has spent most of his political capital,” the Director diplomatically stated.

“He’s tried to directly murder you once,” Penelope added.  “And he provided the former Sunlit Emperor with material support in his war against you!  Not that it amounted to much in the end…”

“Good men and women likely died because of that support,” the Director countered with a didactic look sent his daughter’s way.  “Soldiers on both sides who might otherwise be here, had the war ended earlier—or never been started at all; had the Sunlit Emperor lacked the Keeper’s support, he may never have launched his invasion of the Sword.”

“He would’ve come no matter what,” Leon said.  “His pride demanded it.  His arrogance demanded it.  It was a war he waged for personal reasons, not for political or strategic gain.”

“Right,” the Director agreed.  “His ludicrous claims of being your Clan’s patriarch…”

“Those don’t matter anymore; he’s dead, and his line ended with him,” Leon responded, relishing the reality of his statement to no small degree.  “But right now, I’m more interested in the Keeper’s offer of negotiation.  When the war ended, he seemed quite unwilling to allow me to visit my Clan’s palaces in the Sundered Lands, though he at least promised to consider the request.  It’s been barely half a year since then, but he sent this invitation quickly enough that it was waiting for me upon my return?”

“There hasn’t been much contact between anyone and the Sentinels,” Penelope informed Leon.  “If it’s revealing at all, the Sentinels haven’t mobilized their armies, nor have they sought out foreign support from places like the Menomonee Valley to the east.  Notable as the normal harvest period for Hesperidic Apples is looming.”

Leon grinned.  The last batch of Hesperidic Apples from Tikos had come just before he’d left for Arkhnavi.  That meant they were about halfway through another batch, with the next to come in only a quarter of a year at most.  Aside from a few small groves in the south of Beloran, the Menomonee Valley was the only place where the apples could be grown outside of Tikos’ care, and they measured the time between their harvests in decades, not months.

The apples were valuable materials in short supply, and yet the Keeper wasn’t putting pressure on the Menomonee city-states he neighbored to acquire some in their upcoming harvest.

“Do we know why?” Leon asked.

“The Empires always receive a certain percentage of the harvest,” Penelope stated, “amounting to perhaps half of the total harvest.”

“Gifts, to keep them from seizing control over the groves,” the Director explained.

“They then typically compete over much of the remaining apples by showering the rulers of the Menomonee Valley with gifts and treasure,” Penelope continued.  “However… this harvest seems like it’ll be without much contest.  The Sentinels haven’t been negotiating to acquire any, and the Sunlit Empire is too volatile to worry about external issues.”

“Ilion and Evergold?” Leon asked.

“We haven’t seen much evidence of them trying to take advantage of this lack of competition,” Penelope said, her tone one of both worry and confusion.

“Might be that they’re relying on Leon, now,” the Director speculated.  “Perhaps easier to suck up to the man who’s promised to take them to the Nexus than squabble about an inferior product elsewhere.”

“They could still use those apples,” Penelope argued.  “Leon’s apples are leagues better than those grown elsewhere, but they aren’t grown in large enough quantities to completely replace them on the market, and likely won’t for centuries at the current rate of growth.”

“If we’re still in centuries, then we’ve all failed,” Leon quipped.

“Agreed wholeheartedly,” the aged Director said.

Leon sighed, then stated, “I’m not worried at all about the Menomonee Valley, but the Keeper does occupy my thoughts.  I very much want access to my Clan’s old palaces, if only to explore the place.  Even if there was no possibility of any practical gain, I would still want to visit.  And now, after stiff refusals, the Keeper is offering potential access.  This concerns me.  Makes me suspicious.”

“What might he want in exchange?” the Director mused, his yellow eyes drifting in his daughter’s direction.

“That, I can’t answer,” Penelope admitted.  “Your Eyes haven’t heard anything at all about this offer.  Were it coming from anyone but you, Leon, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“But we do know that there’s been some movement in the Sundered Lands?” Leon asked.

“We do,” Penelope confirmed.  “But that movement has been small, not exceeding expeditionary levels.  There hasn’t been any sign that the Sentinels are gearing up for any kind of true exploration or exploitation of the Thunderbird Clan ruins under their custodianship.”

“The Keeper still sent a letter to Leon that we hadn’t heard about,” the Director pointed out.  “I would agree with Leon and say that this offer is suspicious on its face.  I would recommend ignoring his offer—at least, for the time being.”

“That would be the safest option,” Penelope agreed.

“I detest the safest option,” Leon murmured, only partly in jest.

“Are you considering accepting?” the Director asked.

“I am,” Leon stated.  “Maybe not in Memoria, but if he agrees to a meeting somewhere more neutral, like Argos, then I’d be much more inclined to agree.”

“I would advise against this course of action,” the Director insisted.  “Right now, the unity of our cause rests solely upon your shoulders.  If you die, then who knows what will become of your Kingdom?  Besides, our mutual interests will be dashed.”

And the arks that the Director had transferred to the Ravens would also be lost—though that part wasn’t said aloud, Leon still heard it clear as day.

After a soft chuckle, Leon said, “Believe me, I’m well aware of my position.  And I’m only considering all of my options.  And the rest of my advisors will be informed and given a chance to pass on crucial information.  My answer will only be decided upon after I know all I can about the situation and what resources are available to me.”

“So be it,” the Director whispered.  “I wish you nothing but wisdom in this endeavor.”

“To discuss another matter,” Leon said, drawing the Director’s attention back to him, “how has the search for the Titanstone Foundry been going?”

“Not well,” Penelope said after her father silently prodded her to answer.  “We have a number of surveyors out in there, but that region of the Empire is close to the Kyron Steppes, and is rather sparsely populated; the surveyors don’t have much infrastructure that they can take advantage of to speed up their work.  And they have found some valuable minerals, such as gold, but they have yet to find any trace of Titanstone in the region.”

“And how concerning is that?” Leon asked.

“Were we looking for a new mine, I’d say quite,” Penelope answered.  “There will usually be faint traces of the material within fifty miles or so of where it’s more concentrated.  We haven’t found these traces despite our search.  That doesn’t mean there’s nothing there, just that if there is, then we haven’t found it.  What I find is more of a mitigating factor, though, is that we search for a Thunderbird industrial facility, not for a new mine.  So, our usual methods of surveying the land might not be accurate.  This facility would have to have been buried by time, but if it’s otherwise intact, then there might be no leak of its stocks, which would mean we can’t then detect it with land surveys.”

“And that’s assuming there was any remaining stock, to begin with,” the Director pointed out, and Leon had to agree.  If he led any of the Thunderbird Clan’s vassals at the time of Jason Keraunos’ death, he would’ve done his best to loot any valuable material he could before leaving, and Titanstone would be near the top of that list.  For all he knew, the foundry had been picked clean and its shell left to rot in the wake of his Clan’s fall.

“This foundry and the Clan’s palaces are the only Thunderbird sites that might still be untouched,” Leon murmured.  “Keep searching, even if you find nothing.  There may be nothing remaining there, but the potential gains are too great to ignore.  We need Titanstone more than any other resource right now.”

“In that, we can agree,” the Director stated.

“Understood,” Penelope said.

“Good,” Leon breathed.  “Now, is there anything else going on that I ought to be made aware of?”

The Director smiled and he and Penelope began informing Leon of all that Heaven’s Eye had been doing over the past few months.  For the most part, however, Leon largely lost interest, as he wasn’t too interested in the guild’s day-to-day affairs, and the larger projects hadn’t advanced much in only three months.  The one piece of information that he was actually interested in, however, was that Ajax was being recalled to Occulara from the Bull Kingdom.  Leon was momentarily concerned until the Director added that Elise’s uncle was being promoted, not punished.

Thankfully, the update didn’t last long, and soon enough, the call ended with the Director and Penelope promising to look more into the Keeper’s affairs and to continue their land surveys in the Sunlit Empire’s western regions.

When the call ended, Leon glanced at Gaius, who’d been taking notes in the corner throughout the whole call, then exhaled, releasing as much stress as he could.

“Tired?” Gaius asked.

“Perfectly awake and energized,” Leon responded, not entirely telling the truth, though getting close enough to it.  “Just makes for a stark contrast—dealing with Kingly duties and fighting for my life on Arkhnavi.  The latter was terrifying and exhilarating, and I would never want to return to that plane, but…”

“Being a King isn’t as exciting?” Gaius asked with a knowing smile.

Leon just groaned and waved his hand like he was dismissing the conversation.  He slouched in his chair a bit, closed his eyes, and lounged for several wonderful seconds.  Then he sprang to his feet, his lips widening into a bright smile.

“Now, though,” he said, “we can get to the fun stuff!”

---

Leon inhaled, the rich aroma of countless medicinal and alchemical herbs filling his nose.  It was almost intoxicating, almost to the point of being a little unpleasant, though Leon rather liked it.

He, Gaius, and several other secretaries had traveled to a relatively small part of his palace where Helen had set up her alchemical lab.  The last time Leon had been in Helen’s lab had been in his temporary palace when he’d ripped through it looking for any kind of solution for the uncontrolled soul realm expansion he’d suffered after eating a Hesperidic Apple while the Iron Needle was in his Mind Palace.  The lab she’d set up here looked much the same as that one had, though a bit larger and filled with a few more tools and workstations.

Helen, as always, tended to work alone, though she had stacks of correspondence—mostly with Harts, Bison, and Heaven’s Eye—on a nearby table, as well as another table covered in reference material.  The notes she had regarding her current projects covered several boards and filled dozens of tomes on another table, though Helen herself was busy standing in front of a huge, covered iron cauldron staring at various rune-powered meters and gauges, slowly turning several small valves.

Whatever she was doing had so taken her attention that she hadn’t noticed Leon’s entrance, nor the knocks he’d made against her door.  She did, however, notice as he loudly walked over, his aura poking at hers to get her attention without startling her.

“Leon!” she said with a grin as she turned one last valve and stepped away from the cauldron.  “I didn’t notice you there!  How’s it going?”

“Well enough,” Leon said, and they exchanged a few more pleasantries.  “You have quite a lot going on in here,” he observed after their greetings had finished.  He cast his gaze around at all the glassware, some of it filled with crushed and minced plants, others suspended over bright flames and filled with molten metal.  There were other workstations there, too, but Leon hadn’t the alchemical knowledge base to truly know all of what Helen had in her lab.

“Just some side projects,” Helen said as she sent a dismissive look to most of what had filled her lab.

“I’m surprised there aren’t stacks of healing potions and whatnot in here,” Leon said as Helen led them over to the one relatively clear table in the room, though there were no chairs.

“Handed those off when we moved the lab,” she explained.  “And ever since, the Ancestral Harts have taken over production of a lot of the potions and salves I was making.  Frees me up to focus on other projects.”

“I’ve heard,” Leon said with a wolfish grin.  “One in particular has caught my interest…”

“Fermenting Hesperidic Apples, you mean?” Helen asked as a matching grin spread across her face.  When Leon nodded, she extended a hand back at the covered iron cauldron.  “I’m on the last of the spare Hesperidic Apples from the previous harvest and haven’t managed to concentrate or magnify its power, but I’m making progress.  I think having a few dozen more apples to run tests on will yield great results.”

[Interesting girl,] the Thunderbird whispered from Leon’s soul realm.  [So little time and materials, yet she’s so confident she can make ambrosia?]

“So soon?” Leon asked, echoing the Thunderbird’s statement.  “The Thunderbird’s told me about similar products in the Nexus—ambrosia, made from refining the apples into juice.”

“I’ve had some success starting with recreating the process of fermenting apple juice into cider,” she explained, “though I’ve had to speed that process up quite a bit with magic.  A lot of aficionados would weep tears of blood if they knew what I was doing in here—letting fermentation take a natural course, unmodified by magic, is usually seen as superior.”

“Is that true, or are they just being snobs?”

Helen shrugged.  “Both, I guess.”

Leon took a few steps toward the iron cauldron, attempting to see inside with his magic senses.  However, Helen laid a hand on his arm and said, “Be careful, Leon: the process is delicate, and I don’t want to disturb it overmuch…”

Leon smiled at her and retracted his magic senses.  “Fair enough.”

Still, his eyes lingered on the cauldron.  “Were the next few harvests dedicated to your research,” he said, “how long would you think it might take to refine this process?”

Helen scrunched up her face in thought before telling Leon, “Uh, maybe if I had twenty more apples I could work something out?  More than that would increase my chances, but I think that I could make some ‘ambrosia’ before the next harvest…”

“You don’t sound as confident as I would like.”

“That’s because I’m not, Leon,” she chided.  “I don’t want to sound confident—putting that many Hesperidic Apples into my hands is a lot of pressure!  Everyone else needs those apples!  Maybe carve off a few for my research and keep using them yourselves!”

Leon softly chuckled.  “I think I’d rather have this ambrosia faster than that.”  He laid a hand on Helen’s shoulder.  “I trust you to see this through.  Our harvests have been more than twenty apples for a while, now, so I’ll be sure to give the entire batch to you next time.  If you don’t make as much progress as you hope, then we can go back to giving you the spares.  But don’t worry too much about this; the apples are mine, given to everyone else to aid them in their growth.  They shouldn’t be made dependent on them, and if I have to give up one whole batch to see where this research takes you, then so be it.  We all train for a reason.”

Helen gave him a strained smile.  “I’ll… do my best, Leon,” she said.

“That’s all I can ask for,” Leon replied.

And with that, he left.  Once he was out the door, he breathed a long sigh of relief.  That was his last meeting of the day, and though it was for something exciting, he was mentally ready to return to his own projects and studies.  Besides, Nestor and the giants were going to return to Stormhollow soon, not to mention potential plans to meet with the Keeper.

He still had much to do, and he had to be ready for all of it.

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