“… and this one is from the ambassador from Beloran,” Gaius said, indicating a long, thin box on the table in front of Leon.  “It came with a special note for whoever was presenting it to you to note that it was made by the master Bogdan.”

Leon resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  In fifty years, he’d received a few gifts from Beloran, and with his name and habits becoming more well-known, half of those gifts had been weapons made by Bogdan, the King of Beloran’s personal smith.  Though the weapons given had been made of exquisite materials, Leon had not been impressed by the quality of Bogdan’s work.

“Let’s see it, then,” Leon said with resignation.  He leaned forward and opened the box, revealing a splendid sheath made of high-quality black leather, embroidered with blue lightning bolts, and with bands of silver encircling it.  Embedded in the silver were dozens of tiny sapphires.  Sticking out of the sheath was the golden hilt of a curved saber, with the guard shaped to resemble two eagle’s heads and the golden pommel carved in the likeness of a bird’s talons.

Leon lifted the weapon and drew it from its sheath, his expert eye wandering over the curved blade.  It was sharp enough, though not to Leon’s standard, and possessed a plethora of enchantments.  Unfortunately, none were strong enough to catch Leon’s attention for long.

With a sigh, he sheathed the weapon and set it back in its box.  It would be a gaudy, if useful weapon for a mage of the sixth or seventh-tier, but it was too weak to catch his attention for longer than a second or two.

“Put it in the vaults,” Leon said.  “Maybe we can sell it, if the need ever arises.”

Elise, sitting directly to his right, asked, “That bad?”

“Even from here, it looked like cheap garbage,” Cassandra responded from her seat on Leon’s left.

“You have the right of it,” Leon stated.  “Good materials, shoddy workmanship.”

“We can’t all have the best smith in Heaven’s Eye as a friend, love,” Elise reminded him.

“I’m already grading on a curve, and that thing still barely passes,” Leon argued.

Elise smiled thinly, then said to Gaius, “Be sure to thank Vladislav for us.  I’ll have a gift of our own sent to him in response.”

“He favors strong drink, as most do who hail from Beloran,” Cassandra suggested.

“Something from Helen, then.”

Leon nodded absent-mindedly.  They’d been sitting there for a couple hours wading through an ocean of gifts sent from all over the plane by powerful magnates hoping to curry favor with Aeterna’s most powerful mage.  Stormhollow already hosted embassies from most mainland states, with the Indra Raj being the only major player who hadn’t sent an ambassador to Kataigida.

It had taken decades to get this far, with the Pegasi States eventually calming down after about thirty years had passed without ‘Sky Devil’ raiding along their shores.  The Pegasi States numbered nearly a hundred in total, and all but a handful had sent embassies.  Now, in addition to the traditional districts held by each of the Ten Tribes, another district had been built to accommodate so many foreign guests.

The district had only grown when the Free Cities of the Tam added dozens more embassies to the district, and then the Kingdoms further up the western coast did the same.  The states of the Menomonee Valley sent ambassadors, too, but they were larger and less numerous than those of the Tam or the Pegasi States.  Even the Forest Watchers, who had occupied the southeastern corner of Aeterna for thousands of years and had been resisting Sky Devil incursions for all of their recorded history, sent a few representatives to Leon’s court.

Of all the embassies in his capital city, however, those from Ilion, Evergold, and the Bull Kingdom were the largest and most glorious.  Thunderhaven had sent an embassy, but given the shaky state of Arcaion’s rule, he hadn’t been able to send a large staff along with his ambassador, and Memoria had sent only a single monk who lived upon a low mountain without even a lean-to for shelter.

And, of course, after Leon achieved Apotheosis, word had reached every person in Stormhollow by the end of the day, and through the ambassadors, had spread throughout the plane.  During the celebrations that subsequently engulfed the capital, the ambassadors had almost tripped over each other carrying gifts to Leon’s palace.  He expected many more in the coming months as Heaven’s Eye delivered more personalized gifts from each of the ambassadors’ homelands, and he was considering letting other people open them on his behalf so that he wouldn’t have to bother.  Already, just these short-notice gifts were stacked high in the room, nearly all of them just as ostentatious as the saber from Beloran.

Sensing his impatience, Elise laid a hand on his arm.  “There isn’t much left, Leon; if you want me to handle this, I’ll gladly do so.”

Leon smiled at his wife.  He didn’t want to foist duties off on her, but he knew that she was much fonder of this sort of thing than he was.  Besides, he could sense that Asiya and Cristina were already on their way from the Bull Kingdom’s embassy, and he was more than willing to give the old friends some time to reminisce.

He gave her a grateful look, then rose from his seat.

“I’ll get the rest of the palace ready,” Cassandra declared as she, too, stood up.  “We should make sure that everything is as it should be when our guests arrive.”

Elise agreed.  It was fairly short notice, but Anastasios and the Grand Druid were due to arrive in only a couple days—they were rocketing to Kataigida as fast as they possibly could in the wake of Leon’s ascension.  He was honestly a little surprised that Keeper wasn’t doing the same, and he understood why Arcaion was prioritizing remaining in the Sunlit Empire rather than leaving despite what Leon had accomplished.

Leon knew he could trust his ladies to handle these matters, so he left Gaius with Elise to help her get through the large pile of gifts that had yet to be opened, he departed the room with a small escort of Tempest Knights.  He had another guest who arrived while he was dealing with the gifts to see to.

His feet took him back to the courtyard adjacent to his lab and the Luwen chamber—the training chamber in which he’d achieved Apotheosis.  He noticed that even though only a couple days had passed since then, and the city was still only just getting started with the two-week-long celebration that Leon had announced, the chamber had been completely repaired.

His lab was his destination, however, and only a moment later, he’d arrived.

Immediately upon entering, he took quick stock of everyone in the room.  First was Valeria, sitting in a corner pouring over something she was working on.  Second and third were Nestor and Mari, both of whom were quietly chatting about some new golem designs that Mari had helped create.

In the fifty years since her arrival on the plane, Leon had furnished Mari with enough ambrosia to fuel her ascension to the eighth-tier.  It seemed more than fitting compensation for all that she was doing for his Kingdom—a considerable amount of the progress made over the past half-century had been a result of Mari bringing with her the traditions and techniques of Arkhnavi and working with the Ravens to marry them with those of Aeterna.

She usually split her time between Raiginn and Stormhollow, but after Leon’s ascension, he’d hastily recalled her.  Despite the blistering speed she’d have needed to reach Stormhollow in less than two days, she looked none the worse for wear.

“Heya, Lele!” Mari energetically called out as soon as the door closed behind Leon, separating them from the potentially judgmental Tempest Knights on Leon’s guard detail.

“Heya to you, too,” Leon replied.  He gave her a quick wave and an apologetic look before walking toward Valeria.  Whatever she was examining with such ardor had so captured her attention that she apparently hadn’t noticed his arrival.

Given the extra duties that his retainers had taken on over the years, his retinue had largely ceased to be.  Valeria had been in charge of his retinue, which in turn meant that she didn’t have much to do once the retinue had effectively dissolved.  Many options for how to spend her time remained open to her, and Leon had encouraged her to do whatever her heart desired.  His delight was boundless when she told him that she wanted to focus more on training and studying enchantments.  He already had Elise and Cassandra to handle official Queenly duties, and far better than Valeria could—at least, so Valeria had told him.

As a result, Leon enjoyed having her present in his lab more often than not, which led to her contributing in no small part to the design of his wireframe device.

He strode over and wrapped his arms around her waist.  She jumped, startled, and when she glanced over her shoulder and came almost nose-to-nose with him, he grinned and pressed his lips against her cheek.

“Hey there,” he breathed into her ear.  “What are you working on?”

She smiled and leaned back into his embrace.  “You can tell already, can’t you?”

Leon gave her work a quick once-over, identifying it immediately as an important and heavily enchanted item that was crucial to most of their latest designs for vehicle and weapon platforms.  Using Mari’s imparted knowledge, the Ravens had started making brain-enchantment interfaces using darkness magic, much like what Mari had in her Ulta suit.  The Ravens had initially taken to calling them ‘Arkhnavi interfaces’, but Mari, thinking that wasn’t poetic enough, had renamed the interfaces to ‘cloud glass’.

Circular slates of this ‘cloud glass’ were placed in arks and various MALL models that, when someone’s head rested against it, allowed them to interface with the enchantments in the vehicle directly, moving it like they move their own body.  It required a great deal of training to use, but those who’d mastered using cloud glass easily outperformed those who hadn’t.

When Leon looked at what Valeria was studying, however, several glaring flaws immediately stuck out to him.  He inhaled, preparing to say something, but Valeria held a finger up to his lips.

“Stop right there; I know what you see and I see them, too,” she said.

Leon let that die, but he still couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing with a flawed design.

“I’m fixing it,” she explained as if reading his mind.  She pulled out a few more sheets of paper to lay across the design, and Leon could see that the edits were perfect.  Still, he silently questioned why she was trying to fix a broken design when they had other, more powerful designs already in use.  Again, she spoke without him needing to ask.  “This one still has potential.  Plus, we have that new block of Ulta suits that the Eagles are making, and I think that I can make them better if I can get this to work right.”

Leon smiled and leaned in further, resting his chin on her shoulder as his eyes scanned the stacks of paper in front of his wife.  Most of it was reference material, but a goodly portion of it was her work, inscribed by hand.  Subtly, his head turned to their right, where an inscribing mirror was hanging on the wall.  The mirror would display any enchantment upon it, and let a mage edit it as they pleased.  It was a far more efficient way to work than using paper as Valeria was doing.

For a third time, Valeria spoke before his question could pass his lips.  “I don’t like using those.  Writing all of it out is slower, yes, but I think better doing it this way.”

Leon smiled again and turned back toward her.  She paused and glanced back at him.

“Do you want me to stop?” she asked, sounding a little unsure for the first time during this exchange.

Leon simply replied, “Cristina and Asiya are on their way.  Thought you might like to greet them.”

Valeria’s eyes went wide and she sprang up from her seat and out of Leon’s arms.  “Right!” she loudly said as she made for the door.  She paused before leaving and called back over her shoulder, “I’ll be back in…. later.  Don’t touch my work!”

Leon smiled and waved, though Valeria didn’t see it as she’d already shot out the door.

“Hey Mari,” Leon said.  “How’s it going?”

“Pretty damn good, Lele,” she beamed.  She’d long ago mastered Aeterna’s common tongue, speaking it with all the confidence of a native.  “Some of those old Ravens still hate havin’ to listen to little old me, but hittin’ eighth-tier got those gray feathers to pay attention!”

“Good,” Leon replied.  “Progress?”

“Bein’ made,” she reported.  “Got some more official-like reports comin’ to you in the next coupla days.”

Leon smiled gratefully.  “Wonderful.  Have you been in contact with Clear Day, recently?”

The tau had been spending a lot of time helping the giants settle into their new bodies and prepare for other, less human bodies, otherwise Leon thought he might’ve been able to foist a lot of his diplomatic responsibilities off on him.  Clear was supposed to be in charge of his Diplomatic Corps, after all.

“Not really,” Mari replied.  “He and Rakos have been real chummy lately.  Don’t know what they’re doin’, but I think it has to do with usin’ the giants as wisps.  You’d have’ta ask him, I’ve got nothing more for ya.”

“That’s fine,” he said.  “No matter.  I’d rather talk about my wireframe.”

Nestor interjected, “Have you tried creating wisps yet?”

“Not yet,” Leon admitted.

“You should work on that instead.  Our lack of wisps has long been a problem that I’ve struggled with.  Make more.”

“Demanding.  I’d rather we talk about my wireframe.  We’ll get to the wisps later.  Besides, we have giants, don’t we?  The giants can fill in for wisps, but the wireframe is unique.”

“Still callin’ it that, huh?” Mari asked with a teasing look.

“Do you have something better?” Leon sharply, though amiably, asked.

“Hmmm,” she hummed in thought.  “How about ‘Star Condenser?  No, too much of a mouthful; it has to be descriptive, but hit the tongue like the finest brandy!  I dunno, let me think on it!”

“Your efforts would be better spent on actual work instead of thinking of silly names,” Nestor chided.

“Fuck ya too, Nesty,” Mari pleasantly responded.

Nestor visibly shuddered, but he didn’t argue with her over the nickname.  He’d long ago learned that was a losing battle.

“So, what’cha thinkin’ about, Lele?” Mari asked.

“I’m thinking about the failure of the wireframe device,” he said.

“Failure?” Mari asked, startled.  Even Nestor cocked his head and stared at Leon, confusion visible in his body language.

“Yes, failure.  I managed to achieve Apotheosis, but the wireframe… wasn’t needed.  I suppose it did help, but now that I can look back on it, I can see that it wouldn’t have ever condensed an origin spark entirely on its own.  Still, that doesn’t mean that it’s useless.  Far from it, I’d say, and I want the two of you to listen to this and tell me if I’m wrong to say it…”

Leon began explaining what had happened with the wireframe in his soul realm, and how it had managed to condense some origin power even if it hadn’t successfully condensed an origin spark on its own.  Before he’d even finished, Nestor started scribbling everything he was saying down as quickly as he could and continued even after Leon had finished.  Mari, meanwhile, simply stared at Leon, slack-jawed.

“Origin power?” she squeaked.  “We could use these things to make origin power?”

“Maybe,” Leon said.  “Let’s talk about it.  I think the theory is sound, now we just need to actualize it.”

Leon retrieved the designs from his soul realm and laid them out.  He bent over the table to begin going through it, but Mari’s face had scrunched up in thought as she stared at nothing in particular rather than the designs.

“Now that I think about it,” she wondered aloud, “would condensin’ origin power just by itself be possible?  Like, couldn’t I just, I dunno, do it right now?”  She held out her hand and began channeling her magic.  Before she got too far, however, Nestor interrupted.

“No.  The air is too impure.  You won’t just be concentrating magic power, you’ll be concentrating a lot of other garbage, too.  The filters on the device were some of the most robust that have ever been designed; that’s why the device worked as well as it did.  You’re not just going to create origin power without an origin spark.”  The dead man paused and made eye contact with Leon.  “Or so I thought…”

He began to furiously scribble again, but this time consulted Leon’s designs every few lines.

“What about in soul realms, then?” Mari asked.  “In a soul realm, aren’t we able to just control everythin’ perfectly?”

“That’s just making an origin spark,” Nestor said exasperatedly.

“Right, right,” Mari said, looking a little embarrassed.  “So… then, origin power turns into magic power, right?  Does any of the magic power in the environment or whatever turn back into origin power?”

“If it does, then I haven’t heard of it happening,” Nestor stated.  “Mari’Kha, please focus.  The potential to create origin power outside of a post-Apotheosis mage is huge.  Let’s focus on that.”

Mari frowned and poked Nestor in the side, but all it did was make a loud ringing sound.

She leaned over the table before suddenly jerking back, a grin on her face.  “How about we call it a ‘Raime device’?  Ya know, give ya a little bit of fame, right Lele?”

“That’s unnecessary,” Leon said as he shook his head.

“Ya gotta learn to sell yourself more, Lele,” Mari grumbled.

Leon just shrugged.  Together the three of them poured over his designs, working on the theory for what they wanted to accomplish.  By the time they were done, Leon was confident that if they could turn the theory into practice, then the possibilities were endless.

Unfortunately, as the King, his duties called him away after only a few hours.  A messenger had arrived that simply couldn’t be ignored.

Ambrose was waiting for him.

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