It took Leon several months to get the hang of making wisps.  Nestor was hardly impressed with what he’d made, but he at least conceded that the wisps were ‘workable’.  So, a considerable amount of Leon’s generated origin power went into creating wisps that could fulfill Nestor’s requirements.

During those few months, the Lord Protector and the Grand Druid, who had sequestered themselves in the Hart’s forest, had clearly been busy, for only a few days after Leon finished getting a hand on wisp creation, he sensed the Grand Druid’s ascension—not that it was particularly difficult as it was accompanied by a massive pillar of light that shot straight into the sky.

The wisp that he’d been making at the time fizzled out as his attention was diverted, but he smiled anyway.  The two returned to Stormhollow and had a private celebration with Leon, Cassandra, and the rest of their family over the three of them achieving Apotheosis.  Then, the two former Emperors departed with their entourages, returning to their Empires to get their affairs in order in anticipation of joining Leon’s journey to the Nexus.

Construction on new Void-capable arks continued, as well.  With what Leon was hearing from the Clans involved with ark construction all over Kataigida, he’d have a formidable armada to work with in only a year’s time.  As a result, he began to take preparations to leave much more seriously.  And chief among those preparations was settling on a migration strategy with his most trusted advisors…

---

“… figure out how we’re going to do this,” Leon stated.  “It’s no longer a hypothetical.  We leave when the first block of Void-capable arks come off their assembly lines.”

“How many will we have?” Elise asked.

The Jaguar answered, “Four carriers, six heavy cruisers to support them, a dozen frigates to act as scouts, and seven destroyers to support our ground forces.  And, of course, Silver Spear, Bright Intent, and Bolt in Shadow will be leading the armada.  On top of them, we have a new ark that we’re calling a ‘city ark’, that will bear everyone willing to join this expedition, all the supplies to support them, and everything we’ll need to establish ourselves wherever we end up.”

Elise nodded in gratitude for the information, but Cassandra’s curiosity wasn’t sated.  “How many soldiers can each ark carry?  And additional material?”

“We’ll have to figure that out,” the Jaguar responded.  “Right now, we’re operating under the doctrine that each carrier will bear three dozen fighters and eight transports.  This will necessitate a crew size of around twelve hundred minimum each.  Heavy cruisers will have crew sizes of six hundred, frigates will have fifty, and destroyers one hundred and twenty.  The city ark will be large enough for ten thousand, though conditions may be cramped.”

“Our people are strong and united,” Iron-Striker declared.  “We can deal with cramped.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Leon said as he looked around at everyone in the meeting.  In addition to his wives and highest ministers, he also had Alcander, Alix, and Nestor, however out of all of them, his eyes lingered the briefest on Valeria.  There was one more person who should’ve been at the meeting, but wasn’t, after all.  “Given what we’re embarking on, we can deal with discomfort for as long as necessary.”

“This would be easier if we knew where we were going, Leon,” Ipatameni stated.

With a nod of his head, Leon acknowledged his statement.  He retrieved the crystal that the Grave Warden had given him which contained the sites scouted by the Grave Warden’s apprentice.  A wave of his hand activated an enchantment in the table, projecting a map according to Leon’s specifications.

The terrain depicted looked promising, at least at first.  It was a fairly sizable tract of land with complex waterways that would simplify travel and logistics.  Along the north river were sparse forests, and in the east were hills.

“This land is fertile and unsettled,” Leon said.

“Hardly the land you chose,” Valeria immediately replied.

Leon gave her a cheeky grin, his slight guilt momentarily forgotten.  “Oh?  How do you know that?”

“The land may not be settled, but after we settle it, others may want to attack it.  This region offers no great geographical barriers to deny them access to our land.  I know that you’d never want to settle on indefensible land—at least, not for our first home.”  Valeria paused a moment before sending a cheeky grin of her own right back at Leon.  “And I know that you wouldn’t lead with your choice.”

“You know me so well.”  Leon then addressed the rest of the room, “My wife is correct, this isn’t land that I would want to settle, as valuable as it might be.  My information has told me that while it’s devoid of human life, we’d still have to contend with local beasts for dominance, not to mention the rivers are prone to flooding.”

“None of these issues are insurmountable,” Iron-Striker stated.

“No, but they’d require work to solve,” Ipatameni replied.  “If possible, we should pick a site that doesn’t require such work, or is so beneficial in other ways that that work is worth it.”

“And that’s what we’re doing now,” Leon interjected.  “I have my choice, but before showing it to everyone, I want to know what all of you think about the other sites that I thought had potential.”

[I like the rivers,] Maia silently said.  [I’d prefer to have lakes, too; places for my people to multiply.  We already strain at the territory that we have.]

Leon smiled at her and laid a hand on her thigh below the table.  A comforting squeeze was all the reassurance that she needed.

Further debate over this site continued, but in the end, the opinions of all present aligned with Leon’s: the site was good, but it was far from perfect.

So, on to the next, he moved.

The second site was much different from the first, featuring an enormous caldera about half the size of Kataigida instead of a largely flat plain.  Most of the center of the caldera had been filled by several rivers, with the sea emptying over the caldera’s lowest edge, forming a massive river that joined a nearby body of water that extended beyond the edges of the map.  The walls of the caldera, both interior and exterior, were not as green and lush as the plain, but offered substantial natural defenses that any potential settlement could take advantage of.

And, of course, they had no idea if the volcano that the caldera capped was dormant, or for how long it might be.  The relative lack of vegetation over rich volcanic land didn’t comfort many as to their long-term prospects if they settled there.

Compounding that issue, much like the plain, the caldera had its own inhabitants to deal with, and none were human—the most concerning being a twelfth-tier bat-like monster with a wingspan larger than the wings of their new carriers.  Consequently, there was little debate about its viability; with only three—for the moment—eleventh-tier mages, taking on that bat was a non-starter.

So, Leon moved on to the third location.

The map morphed to show a peninsula with steep cliffs on the three sea-facing sides.  Unfortunately, Leon knew the sea to be too salty to be agriculturally productive, and without any other source of naturally occurring water nearby, they’d have to use magic for farming, which could impact how much magic they could use for their defenses.

It, too, was judged as ‘good, but far from ideal’.

With that verdict, Leon smiled in anticipation.

“Getting to the good one now, husband?” Elise asked with a meaningful smirk.

“You know me so well, wife,” Leon replied.  With one more wave of his hand, a fourth map appeared.  “This is the final of the four sites that I felt were worth showing off.  If I had to pick any of them, this is the one I’d pick.”

Everyone in the room went silent as they took it in.  Some exchanged knowing looks with Leon while others just took in the perfection that Leon was showing them.

“You would pick something like this,” Valeria stated, her tone coming without heat.

“I know what I like,” Leon smilingly replied.

Depicted on the projected map was a circular mountain range enclosing a ring-shaped valley.  A massive mountain with nine peaks rose from the center of the valley, and accessing this valley on foot was only possible from tight, easily defended passes in the north and south.  The floor of the valley was blanketed in forests, while a wide, calm river entered in the north, split at the foot of the central mountain, and flowed through the ring in both directions to meet up in the south and flow out of the valley.  That river didn’t go far before meeting a sea that stretched off the map.

[No lake,] Leon whispered to Maia, [but we can make one.]

Maia hardly seemed to have heard him, her eyes alight at the sight of the river and its sea.  But after a moment of silence, she replied, [We’ll need one if that sea is too salty.]

“Defensible,” the Jaguar praised.  “A fortress at either pass, another two in the west and east, respectively, all connected by walls and additional fortresses…”

“Rich,” Ipatameni added.  “Plenty of farmland and space for strategic groves.”

“The mountains are extensive to the northwest,” Leon stated.  “Or so I’m told, anyway.  Apparently, there are plenty of fertile valleys to be found not unlike what the Ravens, Spiders, and Hawks live in now.  Plains and hills for thousands of miles to a sea larger than Aeterna in the north and a mountain range long enough to encircle Aeterna in the east.  This sea in the south seems to extend for hundreds of thousands of miles.”

“That’s… a lot of water,” Cassandra whispered while Maia stared at the bay with greater interest.

“Probably falls under the dominion of the Ocean King,” Leon stated, referring to the Elemental King of Water.  “This site is on the border of the Storm Lands and the King’s Ocean.”  The Nexus had five major oceans connected by dozens of smaller oceans.  The King’s Ocean, as the name implied, was the direct domain of the Ocean King.

“Maybe that’s why no one’s living here?” Iron-Striker speculated.  “A possible hot border?”

“The Storm Lands are still divided without a Storm King to lead them,” Leon said.  “Some within these lands have sworn themselves to powerful mages in other lands, but for the most part, the Storm Lands remain chaotic.”

“Were I the Ocean King,” the Jaguar stated, “I would’ve driven off all attempts to settle in this area.  If my neighbor were unstable, I would want a depopulated buffer between my land and his.”

“So if we settle here, we might antagonize a fifteenth-tier mage?” Ipatameni wondered.

“Might,” Leon said.  “I wasn’t given any particular warning from the crystal, but who knows?  All of the others have dangers, too, but this one is only imagined.  Perhaps it’s real, perhaps it isn’t.  If it is, at worst, we move.”

Elise, as if she hadn’t been paying attention, asked, “Do we know what kind of natural resources this place has?”

“I’m told there may be some Titanstone in the mountains.  Ambrose’s apprentice didn’t have much time to perform a detailed survey, but he found a little bit that he needed to fix an ark, and he suspected that he’d barely tapped that vein alone, let alone any others.  I’m also told that there are some valuable precursor materials for Aurichalcum and Lumenite in the plains to the east.”

“Valuable,” Nestor murmured.  “If we’re to build anything that can stand up to powers like the Ocean King, then we’ll need those materials.”

“If they’re so powerful, then why haven’t they attracted human habitation?” the Jaguar asked.  “Securing such strategic materials ought to be a significant priority for anyone.”

“Such materials are hardly that rare in the Nexus,” Nestor stated with a dismissive tone.  “They’re not everywhere, but they’re abundant enough that the Basileis and Anakes, the strongest mages below the Elemental Kings, rarely have to go to war for them.”

“What about levels below them?” Iron-Striker asked.

“If we’re threatened by a Strategos or a Despot, we’ll handle them,” Nestor said as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

“And… what do these titles correspond to?” Ipatameni asked.

After an exaggerated sigh, Nestor explained, “The political rungs of the Nexus’ ladder.  The Nexus, as its name suggests, is the place where all peoples converge, and as such, every kind of society can be found there.  But according to Khosrow’s law, they are divided into Themata, ruled by a Strategos; Despotates, ruled by Despots; Empires, ruled by Basileis; and finally the domains of the Anakes.  Every Anax is, at least in theory, subject to an Elemental King, but in practice, many are functionally independent.  These are political titles but have become associated with power since they usually go to the strongest mage in each of these administrative divisions.  As a result, a Strategos will almost certainly be a Theme’s eleventh-tier mage or the strongest of a Theme’s eleventh-tier mages, but they could also be a twelfth-tier mage in rare circumstances.  The title could also be shared by political equals, but this is even rarer.”

“So each of these titles can be thought of as representative of a magical tier?” Iron-Striker asked, seeking confirmation.

“Can be,” Nestor agreed.  “Strategos for eleventh-tier mages; Despot for twelfth; Basileus for thirteenth; Anax for fourteenth and those few fifteenth-tier mages who are not Elemental Kings.  But again, keep in mind that while this is Khosrow’s Law, not everyone follows Khosrow’s Law.”

“Like the Great Dragon Clans, for instance?” Leon pointedly asked.

“Yes, like them,” Nestor confirmed in a subtly exasperated tone.

“We’ll remember that,” Iron-Striker declared.  “For the moment, I would support our expedition beginning here.”

“I… wonder where in the Nexus it is,” Ipatameni said as his eyes turned to Leon.  “How close are the Storm Lands to Aeterna?”

“I don’t have a complete map of the Nexus yet,” Leon said with some reluctance, “but I’m told that the Storm Lands are in the hemisphere of the Nexus that faces the Divine Graveyard, so we won’t have to cross the entire Nexus to reach the land that should be ruled by a Storm King.”

“I imagine that will make returning to Aeterna easy, too,” Ipatameni responded, sharing a meaningful look with the Jaguar.

Leon shot his oldest Tribal supporter a silent question, and the Jaguar, after only a moment’s hesitation, explained, “Reclaiming the territory of the Storm Kings of old is only right and proper, just as it is for the Thunderbird Clan to hold that title… I cannot deny that our departure from the land that we have lived on for thousands of years is… painful.  Many of our Ancestors now rest upon these shores, in these mountains, in these forests.  For many, it will be difficult to separate themselves from their Ancestors that they may have personally known.”

Leon nodded in understanding.  He certainly didn’t like the idea of leaving the plane where his father and his paternal family were interred.  He sighed and responded, “It won’t be permanent.”  The eyes of everyone in the room snapped to him.  He grinned and paused only just long enough to have a dramatic effect.  “I’m thinking that we maintain a presence on Aeterna.  This presence here will likely be much larger than our presence in the Nexus for a good long while.  Regardless of the actual numbers, Ambrose has indicated that he’s fine with the Thunder Kingdom remaining here, even if the Thunder King is based in the Nexus.  So long as those we leave to govern in our absence maintain the peace we’ve fought for, then I can’t foresee Ambrose rescinding that offer.”

“That… how would we return home?” the Jaguar asked.

“Ask the Ravens,” Leon said with another cheeky grin.  “They’re the ones who’re going to be designing our arks, aren’t they?  I mean, even if Ambrose follows through and helps us get to the Nexus the first time, we’ll have to use our arks to get back and forth every time after that.”

The Jaguar nodded but didn’t look particularly satisfied.  Leon supposed he wouldn’t until they had more reliable data on how well their Void-capable arks functioned.  They had hardly thoroughly tested their long-range travel systems, after all.

“Are we in agreement, then?” Leon asked.  “The site?  The timeline?”

He looked around, and everyone nodded to him, though some were more enthusiastic than others.

Grinning in anticipation, he summarized, “We leave Aeterna in one year, then.  We will take these mountains and plains for our own.  Send word to the Ax-Bringer to assemble the Elder Council.  The Tribes must be informed of this plan, and volunteers will have to be gathered and prepared.”

“That won’t be difficult,” Iron-Striker confidently stated.  “We’ve been readying ourselves for half a century.  We’re ready to join our King in his great expedition.”

The Jaguar, his misgivings aside, looked just as confident as the former Thunderer.  “It will be the honor of a lifetime to march with our King returned as he makes his first move into the Nexus.  Our first step to reclaiming the lands of our distant Ancestors…”  The Jaguar chuckled.  “Finding volunteers for this expedition will be easy.”

“I’d hate for it to be otherwise,” Leon said.  “The last thing I want is an expedition full of conscripts.”

“Hah!” the Jaguar exclaimed.  “Conscription will hardly be necessary!”

“We’ll get it done, Your Majesty,” Iron-Striker promised.  “The Elder Council will be informed.  We will be ready in one year.”

Leon nodded gratefully, but as he cast his gaze around the room, his golden eyes lingered on Valeria.  Her brilliant sapphire eyes bore holes into him, and though she was smiling with everyone else, he knew the reason for her intensity.  He had one more person he’d have to consult about the Nexus.

He had to talk to Justin Isynos.

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