Innat was busy, but that didn’t stop her from being bored. The only interesting project was the design of a subsidiary Spire; no one knew exactly how the true Spire was built, but there was an architect who’d been telling everyone he could build it if he could just get enough iron for years.
One of the Baron’s nephews had decided to take him up on it. If he was successful, miniature Spires would replace the firewatch towers scattered around the countryside. It was a vanity project, but if the fake Spires lasted even half as well as the original one, it would be well worth the expense.
More importantly, it was interesting in a way that organizing everyone necessary for a Tier Party simply wasn’t. Sure, it was something that happened only two or three times in a lifetime, but everyone had those two or three! The hard part wasn’t the party itself, it was finding out what the people throwing it wanted to do.
A soft knock on her door interrupted Innat’s grumbles. She looked up. “Come in, Ekt. Who is it now? I’d have sworn I didn’t have anyone scheduled for this afternoon.”
Ekt grinned at her. “Something I think you’ll like. Come on, follow me.”
Innat grinned back at Ekt as she followed him out the door. He’d never quite gotten over his past as a troublemaker and it came out at times like this. He was supposed to tell her what was going on, but he knew her better than that; he knew she was bored and that she liked surprises as long as they were good surprises. “This had better not be another sect trying to get me to convert the Baron’s family.”
Ekt chuckled. “You know you liked that one. You needed an excuse to yell at someone that week anyway.”
He wasn’t wrong. “Sure, but this week hasn’t been half that bad.”
“You hate building projects almost as much as you hate Tier Parties.” Ekt’s comment was a low blow, getting right at the root of Innat’s boredom. “I think you’ll like this one almost as much as you liked that expedition into the unclaimed lands.”
Innat hadn’t thought about that for years. Why was he bringing it up now?
When she stepped into the reception area, it was immediately obvious why he brought it up: the leader of that expedition was standing right in front of her. Innat wasn’t certain she’d have recognized Ceney without the reminder, but with it there was no doubt. “Ceney? You aren’t planning another expedition now of all times, are you?”
Ceney laughed. “Of course I am! It was already being planned before this whole mess started. It’s on hold at the moment, unfortunately. Hard to leave when, well, Zenith.”
Ceney grimaced and Innat felt her face imitate Ceney’s expression. Yes, Zenith. She didn’t like the city to begin with, or most of the family other than Ceney herself, but she did have to admit that they had done a decent job of keeping things under control. The settled lands weren’t growing, but they hadn’t shrunk for at least two generations. There hadn’t even been a Great Wave in years; the last one was where the Lichbane earned his title. Nothing had risen from the ruins since then.
For all that Ceney said her expeditions were to uncover the secrets of the past, Innat couldn’t help but think that wasn’t the entire explanation. She had royal backing, and as a non-lineal princess that wasn’t guaranteed. No, the King wanted someone out there, probably to check for another Great Wave. Why he couldn’t just hire people to check regularly was beyond Innat, so it was probably Zenith politics.
Innat really hated Zenith sometimes.
Innat frowned. “If it’s not an expedition, why are you here? You know I don’t do ordinary sales.”
Ceney grinned the same sharp grin that Innat had seen on many of the other royals. If she didn’t know Ceney well enough to recognize how she meant it, Innat would have started to move away from her. “We’re not here for me. We’re here for Serenity. He’s an offworlder with a problem I think you’ll find interesting.”
Yes, it was the same smile, the predator about to leap. It was fortunate that Ceney’s predatory leanings were different from her family’s, or at least different from the other non-lineal members of her family. Perhaps the actual heirs were more like Ceney. Innat could hope.
Innat turned towards the others in the room. She recognized Xarx, of course, and there was only one other male. He was strange-looking, definitely foreign, and that was before she noticed the mismatched eyes. “You must be Serenity. Tell me, why did Ceney bring you here?”
It was a surprisingly long explanation. Innat was glad for that; it gave her time to calm down after she realized who she was talking to.
There was only one reason someone would be this upset that people from all over his world were being stolen from his world’s Tutorial. He didn’t place any emphasis on it, but Innat was smart enough to hear the words that weren’t said. She was talking to a Planetary Sovereign. One that cared enough about only a few thousand people to come himself.
Worse, she was talking to a Planetary Sovereign from a world freshly out of the Tutorial that was skilled enough to hide his power. She didn’t know exactly how powerful he was, but he was putting no more pressure on her than a low-end Tier One, sometimes even lower, and that was definitely not accurate. No one his apparent age would be at the minimum of Tier One unless they were Saktiin, and Saktiin weren’t rulers. It was against their creed.
He reminded her of some of the instructors at Stallet Academy. Impossibly young and powerless until they wanted your attention and then you had no choice but to pay attention to them. She’d tried to get them to teach her the technique, but learning how to better sense aura was all she’d ever managed. Control was simply not something she could do at her Tier.
Despite how terrifying Serenity’s neutral presence was, his problem was interesting. The missing people weren’t just in Celestials’ Rest; they were scattered and lost. For all that the caravans had been headed to Mountain’s Crest and Heavenfall, Innat had no doubt that they’d been sold along the way if a buyer appeared.
“So how exactly did you get these ledgers?” Innat was pretty confident that Serenity’s belief that they were secret ledgers was correct; there was a lot of information in them that would be useful for either blackmail or as evidence against Djen. There was no way this would be included in public ledgers.
Serenity shrugged. “The Eternal Church attacked the Hiring Hall a week or two before they attacked Zenith. We were there to pick up the pieces. I’m pretty sure they thought he was holding out on them, not sending slaves they were supposed to receive.”
Serenity seemed to be telling the truth. Innat wasn’t certain which was more terrifying: that he didn’t seem to have a problem with “picking up the pieces” of an operation run by a powerful offworld organization - they owned multiple planets! - or that he’d clearly planned to do something or he wouldn’t have been there to pick up the pieces.
She half hoped her Smell Falsehood Skill was misleading her, but she didn’t think it was. He was either the best liar she’d ever seen as well as completely able to deceive the Skill or he was utterly hopeless.
“What plans do you have in place and how much funding do you have available?” She should have asked about funding earlier. She normally asked as soon as she knew the problem was worth her time.
“Monster cores are preferable, I have a bunch. Not sure how many you can trade out. I can come up with Etherium if cores won’t work. Probably, at least; it’s at home and I’m not sure how the portal system being down will affect that. I don’t think it will?” Serenity sounded more hopeful than confident at the end.
Innat had no idea. “Hopefully not. A mix will be far easier to handle than just monster cores.” Of course, she could make monster cores work as long as there were enough of them. Even if it was terrible that her planet couldn’t produce them, there was a market for them. It simply wasn’t very large. “So, where were you going to start? Have you already started?”
Serenity glanced at Ceney then back at Innat. “Ceney suggested a couple of lawyers, but I thought I’d talk to you first. I think their names were Maerite and Alanok?”
Innat simply stopped for a moment before she burst out laughing. That was the craziest idea she’d ever heard! Maerite and Alanok working on the same thing instead of working against each other.
The weirdest part was that it might even work. They seemed to have an odd respect for each other; more than once, she’d heard rumors about one of them declining a case when they heard about the other working for the other party. The few clashes they did have were legendary, but for the past two or three years there hadn’t been any.
On top of that, this was a set of cases that she was confident either of them would be happy to take on. It was rare that their interests aligned so well.
She was going to have to see this.
Innat watched as Maerite walked into the waiting room where Alanok was already waiting. They were both early for the appointment time she’d given them, and she’d deliberately scheduled them at the same time. She wanted to see what would happen.
Maerite sat down a few seats away from Alanok then turned towards him. “Is Innat running late today? I didn’t think I was all that early.”
Alanok shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m a little early myself.” He paused and tilted his head. “You don’t think we’re here for the same thing, do you?”
“Our feud is famous, but I didn’t think Innat was the type to try to fan the flames.” There was a crease between Maerite’s eyes as she frowned. After a moment, her eyebrows lifted. “You don’t suppose she’s actually found something she thinks might bring us together?”
There was a long silence before Alanok answered. “It does sound more her style, but I can’t imagine what it would be.”
This wasn’t going to be half as explosive as Innat had assumed from the rumors, but it would probably be much more productive. That was a trade she’d happily take.
Innat moved from the observation window to the nearby door and entered the room. There was no point in waiting any longer. “Maerite, Alanok? It’s good that you’re both here. As you’ve probably guessed, I set this up with both of you at the same time because I have a task I believe you’re both going to be needed for.”
“What could you possibly want me to work with him for? He works for slaveholders!” Maerite’s expression and tone were both far harsher when talking about Alanok than they had been when talking to him.
Innat found that very interesting, but it was better not to comment on the discrepancy. Instead, she smiled. “I don’t think you’ll have any problems with this case. I have evidence of a large number of people who were illegally bonded, written up with a debt they never incurred. I also have a backer who is willing to fund locating and freeing them, including housing and living expenses until he can send them home. By portal. Off planet.”
She paused for a moment and watched as the two lawyers exchanged a glance. They were both good at concealing their surprise, but not good enough. “I think you can see how I want to use your skills. Alanok’s specialty is finding the right slave; he should be able to find the people, while you, Maerite, take the evidence and get them free. My supporter has agreed to pay reasonable recompense to the current owners, since they did not know they were buying illegal property and it seems unlikely that we will be able to recover the price from the seller, as his business no longer exists.”
“That will help, but just how wealthy is your supporter?” Maerite sounded doubtful. “A large number of slaves can get quite expensive, especially with having to get them back on their feet afterwards.”
She would know. The fact that she was affiliated with the only organization that tried to help slaves reenter free society was one of the reasons Innat particularly wanted Marite involved. Without that, Alanok would have been the far better choice. “Given what he’s already given as an advance and how he talked about the people involved, very wealthy. That is the one warning I should give you. He refused to say, but I believe that he is a Planetary Sovereign and that this is a power play between planets. It might not be as safe to get involved as it seems.”
Maerite shook her head. “This is why I do what I do. Far too many people are pulled into-”
“Mae, we all know how you feel.” Alanok interrupted. “We’re both in. I doubt it will be that dangerous for us as long as we’re careful. Now tell us the details.”
Patreon
