***Tirnanog, Hochberg***
***Magnus***
We walked down the ramp in full regalia with Peter and the rest of his staff in the lead. Everyone was wearing armour, but we had decided to forgo the large weaponry as a show of faith.
Peter took care of introductions as soon as he reached the end of the ramp. On Tirnanog, it was only proper procedure for the less powerful among two groups to exchange greetings first and do most of the talking.
I remembered Mary’s boring lessons on how the established etiquette worked with dread.
When there were real decisions to be made, Peter would defer to us.
Our advisor was received by a woman who greeted him with a handshake. She was clad in a sturdy linen dress and leather which hinted more at a protective function than truly fulfilling it.
“Peter Rumen! What tumultuous news leads you so far south? I thought you would avoid leaving your mountainous abode ever again and settle down.”
“I could throw the question right back at you, Tianna,” Peter quipped. “I remember you vividly promising to retire. Instead, it looks like you never took off the badge.”
He turned to introduce the rest of our group, deliberately ignoring our guards who had come to an awkward stand-off with their equivalents from Hochberg. “This is the rest of my entourage. They are just fulfilling an observer role. And our two protectors, Astra and Magnus Frost.”
Astra and I shook hands with the woman.
Tianna smiled pleasantly at us and bowed. “My name is Tianna. An honour to meet you. To my knowledge, the Frosts haven't left the mountain in decades. I hope the news which brings you here isn't too dire.”
“Depends on your definition of dire,” Astra replied without much emotion. “What we have to tell you ranges from alarming to catastrophic.”
Tianna dropped the introductory light-heartedness and turned serious. “Of course, our scouts told us it would be important. The matriarch wishes to see you right away.” She looked at Peter. “There have been changes since your last visit.”
“Oh?” Peter gestured for the rest of us to follow while Tianna took the lead. “How so?”
Meanwhile, the guards of both groups intermingled with some in the lead and others following. I wasn't so sure about the modality, but I guessed if nothing else it ensured mutual destruction if one party tried to back-stab the other.
“Greta died during the winter and Vanya took over as the new matriarch,” Tianna said without much fanfare.
Judging by Peter's body language, this indeed came as a surprise. From our briefings, I remembered Greta to be Hochberg's Matriarch, but I had been told nothing about this Vanya.
“Greta is dead!? How? And I don't want to question the wisdom of your government system, but is Vanya taking over wise?” Peter's confusion was obvious.
Tianna threw a sideways glance at Peter while she and her guards led our group of twenty deeper into the fortress city. The rest of our people had stayed behind with the Caravaners.
“Vanya blazed through all the tests and achieved the highest scores possible. There is no ground to stand on even if anyone desired to question her rule. As long as she wants to rule, she can. I won't pretend that there is no discontent about the situation, but it helps that Vanya was Greta's protégée.”
She sighed and returned her attention to the corridor ahead. “As for the former matriarch, she was found murdered in her quarters – a poisoned dagger with deathnut oil buried in her heart. The case is still under investigation. So far we have found nothing.”
Peter turned around and threw a grim glance at us before he signalled our guards to heighten their awareness, followed by a chat message to the entire group.
'Watch out for assassins!'
I casually placed my hand on the pommel of my short sword. Just to assure myself of its exact position. Next to me, Astra mirrored my actions.
The Hochberg had a very different government system compared to the Aerie. Their structure was even more hierarchical with a matriarch or a patriarch at the top. Without in-depth knowledge, it would have been easy to dismiss the job as a king or queen, but the position had a little more nuance than that.
For one, becoming matriarch required doing well in a series of tests which outsiders weren't privy to. The Aerie knew of their existence, but not what they entailed and Hochberg had done an excellent job at keeping the secret.
We eventually reached an official-looking hall – ending my musings.
Judging by its closeness to the docks, I doubted it to be the actual place from where the current leader ruled.
But the opulence of the frescos on the walls was superb. The room was intended for the reception of high-ranking guests without question. A demonstration of wealth and craftsmanship which depicted various historical events. Sadly, I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to identify most of them.
Only the central artwork on the left wall wasn’t hard to misunderstand. It was the depiction of five grand armies standing against a sixth far larger than them. The sixth was protecting a portal which supplied them with endless troops.
My eyes drifted to the ceiling which was lighted by glow-sponge, reminding me of Aerie.
The hall was filled to the brim with highly decorated guards in plate armour. I couldn’t be certain, but it looked like iobeetle shell – the same material from which my armour was made. At a glance, I counted a hundred, more than enough to subdue our measly entourage, should we try to start something.
Was this show of force and arms an indication of distrust?
I searched for a reaction from Peter, but our advisor kept his cool and his smile never wavered while he followed Tianna into the room.
Closely guarded by a separate row of bodyguards, a girl of no more than eleven years sat at a generously sized conference table made from a massive slab of stone.
She wore a billowing dress decorated with embroidery. Her brown hair hung down to her shoulders and was decorated with glittering jewels. Otherwise, she looked utterly unremarkable. Her face still had the roundness of a child, her adult features not having settled in yet. No distinct ethnicity could be assigned to her, something which happened more and more often on Earth with people travelling all over the world. Judging by her darker colour and eyes, I assumed her ancestry to hail from somewhere around China and India.
Tianna bade us sit down across from the child-regent while she walked around the table and took a position next to the girl. The bodyguards ignored her.
We sat down, facing Vanya from seven metres away. Supposedly more than enough distance for her bodyguards to react in case of an attack.
I carefully controlled my expression, fearing I would mess up otherwise. Vanya may look like a child, but who knew in this world? If I had wagged my tongue and firmly stepped in it, it would turn out she was some two hundred year old hag.
“The patrol group sent us some very confusing news,” Vanya began. “First about the unexpected arrival of an Aerie delegation. Then about some UI which allows limited control over our mutations?”
The girl raised a doubtful eyebrow.
Peter repeated his introduction and looked at us before Astra gestured for him to take the lead.
He turned back to face the matriarch and cleared his throat. “With your permission, I would like to begin in chronological order and explain what happened at the beginning of this winter. It’s best to know the cause before we reveal our reason for being here.”
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Peter launched into a well-rehearsed tale concerning everything of political interest. First the Thich's attack on the recruitment party, then my revelations about Earth and the Violet-Gene-Complott as it had become known amongst Aerie's leadership. How I had unlocked the colony's supercomputer, followed by the assassination attempt on me – suspiciously carried out with deathnut oil.
Vanya didn't interrupt a single time and only listened in silence.
“... alas, this was the final nail in the coffin,” Peter ended his tale. “The council of elders has ruled all of this warrants the fleet's mobilization. Our main purpose is to forewarn you. A sizeable part of Aerie's airship fleet is about to pass through your lands. We will force an explanation out of Thich, one way or another.”
“How do you intend to do this?” Vanya asked.
“First of all by occupying the Old Camp and denying Thich access,” Peter suggested. “It should be enough to force a statement out of them. What happens afterwards would depend on their reaction. Do they admit it? Do they have an explanation for everything? We have to see.”
Unlike what I would have expected of a child, Vanya hadn't shown any emotions during Peter's explanations.
“It would violate the treaty,” she pointed out.
“Not if you and your people support us. All it takes is for two or more clans to suspect foul play by another and they are entitled to investigate with any means necessary,” Peter replied.
“I also assume you would welcome any military aid we are willing to give. At the very least, you will want us to ignore your forces passing over our territory. This is a tale which is hard to believe. Thich collaborating with Earth for experiments. A large group of Forgotten resurfacing. An underground society sending us aid in our hour of need. War,” the matriarch mused after staying silent for over a minute. “I assume you brought proof? I can't make decisions based on hearsay.”
Peter bowed his head. “You can have us eat any meat you desire if you want proof that the nanomachines' less desirable functions are deactivated. The fleet will bring the witnesses from Thich when they arrive. Magnus can unlock your colony's supercomputer – if it still works. To resolve initial doubts, we've brought several bodies of Forgotten infiltration specialists, fresh enough to account for the aforementioned time frame.”
Vanya grimaced, finally showing a reaction befitting her age. “I’ll leave examining the bodies to those who can be trusted. As for food…”
She brought out a pouch from in between the folds of her dress and threw it over to Peter.
I raised an eyebrow.
The girl must’ve anticipated the situation and prepared accordingly.
Our advisor caught the pouch and opened it. He took out something which looked like dried jerky. His smile never wavering, he took a bite and chewed before he swallowed.
“Needs a little more salt,” he commented before he handed the pouch further down the table.
Everyone took a bite of the offered treat and I followed suit when it was my turn. Poison was extremely unlikely. Vanya could have all of us killed with a single order to her guards.
Our nonchalant acceptance of the offered food caused a slight stir among the guards around us.
My UI popped a familiar message.
‘Would you like to accept a new mutation? Yes / No
I selected ‘no’ and set the interface to automatically reject all future enquiries of this particular type. Sadly, the UI was dumb and asked this every time I encountered new genetic material. There was no way to switch off the notice pop-up permanently.
Peter smiled. “Returning to the topic. We canned the bodies appropriately to ensure you could come to the same conclusions. Nobody would be able to claim we had them in storage since the war.”
I glanced at Peter, surprised he was so nonchalant about the matter. I was thankful for someone back at Aerie having thought ahead. Before I had learned of the matter, I wouldn't have thought of using the Forgotten's distinct morphology as proof. It took a certain ruthlessness to come up with such a thing.
Vanya nodded. “Forgive me to ask for evidence. The Thich have been spinning a very similar tale since their delegation arrived. According to them, you attacked their group and are collaborating with Earth to perform some heinous experiments. The only difference is they haven't offered physical proof as of yet. Though they promised to deliver once Winter ends.”
Peter didn't show surprise by the presence of Thich, nor their claims. Instead, he leaned forward. “Interesting. It sounds like they are trying to delay. Are you sure they aren't collaborating with a Forgotten cell which managed to hide among your people? Assassinations carried out in both of our clans by the same means is conspicuous, to say the least.”
Vanya looked towards Tianna who shook her head, “The Thich delegation has an airtight alibi for the time of the incident, but with Forgotten spies, several new possibilities open up. We will have to reopen a whole new investigation and consider the situation from a different angle.”
The girl returned her attention to us. “If you would excuse us? I will consider your offer and have my people check the evidence you brought with you. If everything works out, I'll invite you again tomorrow. Should your tale about the Forgotten be true, staying with the caravaners is the smart move, so we will withhold our hospitality for the moment.” She waved a hand at the guards. “Escort them back to the dock.”
Peter stood and bowed before he gestured for us to take our leave.
***Tirnanog, Hochberg***
***Tianna***
I turned my attention to Vanya once the door closed behind Peter's delegation, ensuring our privacy.
The girl reached into the folds of her dress and brought out a Rubik's cube and the disturbing plush toy she was so fond of. In my opinion, it had far too much in common with a gutter.
With the plushy on her lap, she began to play with the cube. It was one of the fancier models made from metal, an octahedron with entirely too many pieces. To add an additional layer of complexity, the different segments weren’t symmetrical but had all sorts of shapes. This often resulted in the cube locking up completely if a mistake was made.
Her eyes never left the door while her hands played idly with the alien-looking device.
An annoying clicking began to fill the room as she worked the puzzle toy like clockwork.
“Have their evidence checked as soon as possible,” Vanya instructed without much enthusiasm.
“I've known Peter for decades,” I pointed out. “He isn't the type to lie about such matters.”
“Trust is good, control is better,” Vanya pointed out.
I sighed. “Are you sure you want this? Being matriarch can be a lonely position. You are taking on too much for your age.”
“I already took the power,” Vanya replied stoically. “And it will remain with me for as long as I live. If for nothing else, then to keep it out of the hands of whoever killed Greta.”
I pursed my lips. “Are you sure you aren't playing into their hands? Maybe they wanted you to take control.”
The girl didn't give it much consideration. “If so, they made a grave mistake.”
As if on an afterthought, she clicked her tongue. “For a moment, I thought it could be you.”
I slowly turned and looked down at the girl who returned my gaze with grey eyes which hadn't seen a lot but knew entirely too much.
“Why?” I asked, curious how I had entered the circle of suspects.
“You brought that old friend of yours within ten metres of me, including two juggernauts who could have killed me if they had wished to do so. You know very well my mutations couldn't have possibly saved me.” Vanya returned her attention to the door.
I was shaken by her revelation. “The two Frosts are juggernauts?” Vanya's mutations were focused entirely on mental abilities. As long as she was still unpaired, she was too vulnerable.
“Speedsters, and something more...” Vanya clarified. “An unusual mutation to take for their family for sure. At least as far as I know. Their minds are strange. Instead of a single person, it's like listening to a discordant orchestra with countless thoughts going down different tangents. It hurts to listen. The empath they had with them was completely silent and guarded.”
The girl pursed her lips. “They sent us quite powerful people as envoys. It's more than just a show of force, so I assume the Aerie elders are deadly serious about this matter.”
“Why didn't you say something?” I asked, horrified at the thought of having allowed them so close. And how was it possible for someone to thwart Vanya's ability? “Who was the one who could block you?”
“She hid among the guards.” Vanya blinked. “Judging by her movements, I think she was a Tate. People with bloodvine mutations have this special gait. Now that I think about it, all the higher Aerie stratas were present. Another sign that they are unified in their goals?”
“And why didn't you say something?” I repeated myself to prevent her thoughts from running rampant again.
The girl looked up at me with an expression full of pity. It was one of those exasperated looks parents gave their kids when they caught them utterly failing a basic math exercise.
“The probability of them killing me was low. It was a calculated risk to let them so close. Them not trying anything when they had the chance lessens the probability of their involvement and points more towards... other parties.”
“I don’t want you taking risks!” I said, maybe a little bit too harshly.
The girl looked at the cube in her hands. “Getting out of bed is a risk in this world. Let me decide which risks are worth taking.”
She hummed.
“We may be able to use their presence as bait,” Vanya suggested after a pause.
“No!” I shot back vehemently. “Vanya, you may be the smartest person in the entire clan, but we do not use foreign diplomats as 'bait'!”
The girl looked up at me and blinked innocently. “Oh, why? Isn't that why diplomacy exists? To use each other? Are you sure you are ready to question me on the matter of mind games?” She raised the plushy and grinned. “Do you believe I really like the plushy? Or do I keep it around because I know it disturbs you?”
Instead of replying, I decided to glare daggers at her.
Vanya rolled her eyes. “They came here because they want something from us. By the looks of it, it may be connected to Greta's murder. We just have to watch them carefully. Either they will slip up, or they step on the toes of whoever killed Greta.”
I let out an aggravated sigh. “What do you suggest?”
“We cooperate. This UI thing sounds like something huge. We need it if others have it. Make preparations for giving them access to that useless brick of ours. If they want to give us something without strings attached, let them. Be obvious about it while tightening the security. If everything they said is true, the Forgotten just jumped to the top of my list. They will doubtlessly try to interfere with the activation of the UI.”
“If their description is accurate, we shouldn't be worried about being obvious. The whole clan will know soon enough now that the scouts are back. And it's not like there are no strings attached,” I mumbled. “It will put us at odds with Earth for sure.”
Vanya shrugged. “We are already at odds with Earth. As I see it, there is no way around it unless you decide to silence the Caravaners and our scouts. Also, it doesn't look like Aerie has any intention of staying silent on the matter. The secret will be out sooner or later.”
Not having any sensible counterargument, I held my tongue and bit my lower lip.
Vanya waved her hand. “See to it that it is done.”